Burmese Tribal Silver Beads

Each bead is shaped like a tiny length of bamboo, node and all.

These tribal silver beads are Hill Tribe, from Laos, Thailand and Burma, and date to the early 20th century, in tribal silver. Across the hills of Southeast Asia, silver has long been worn as ornament and as a store of family wealth, and beads like these are often made by hand. The beads are slim tubes in a soft, matte silver, each pinched at the ends and ringed at the middle like a bamboo joint. They are hammered lightly, so the surface catches the light in small facets. The strands lie loosely in pale grey loops with a gentle wear.

Jointed, practical, and very much in the spirit of the grove.