Burmese Tribal Silver Beads

Flat silver discs, each with a bar down the middle, stacked up like a very orderly pile of coins.

These tribal silver beads are from the Hill Tribe of Laos, Thailand and Burma, and date to the early 20th century. They are tribal silver. Hill tribe communities in Southeast Asia have long made and worn silver jewelry, partly as ornament and partly as a way to store wealth. Each bead is a flattened disc with a raised ridge across the center, set between small knotted spacers on a strand. Faint stamped marks, like tiny crossed lines, show on the faces. The metal is soft and dull silver, worn smooth in places.

Heavy on charm, and no hurry to be anything else.