Berber Strand of Beads, Morocco

When a bead cracked, somebody stapled it. Then they went on wearing it.

This strand of beads is Berber or Amazigh, from Morocco, and dates to the 20th century. The record describes it as Bakelite or copal amber rondelles with native repair. Large amber-colored beads are a familiar sight in Moroccan adornment, and their imitations have been nearly as widely worn. Fat, rounded discs run from honey to deep red-brown, graduated toward the center. Short metal staples cross several of them, the visible mark of those repairs. A black cord ties it closed. Fourteen and a half inches long.

Broken, mended, worn again. Few things in a jewelry box can say as much.