Amethyst with Old Coin Pendant
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The necklace is composed of amethyst, silver beads from India, and an old coin centerpiece. The amethyst most likely comes from Brazil or India and was faceted in India or China. The silver beads are typiccal of Indian manufacture where the silver jewelry industry has been vibrant for centuries due to the steady and insatiable demand by Indian women for jewelry.

The magnificent coin is a Maria-Teresa thaler from the Austrian-Hungarian empire. Thalers were the world’s first international currency, partly because of their beauty, partly because of the difficulty in counterfeiting them, and partly because Maria-Teresa was a larger-than-life symbol of fertility for Middle Eastern women – she had, after all, over a dozen children. As such, the thaler’s popularity in Muslim countries, as well as Ethiopia and Indiana, enduring long after the demise of the empire. In fact, the coin is dated 1780, but it was actually minted probably in the late 1800s/early 1900s as the dies were never destroyed after the date of the empress’s death ((1780). In fact, the enormous profit the empire reaped from the thaler trade meant that more of these coins were minted after Maria-Teresa’s passing than during her long reign.

This coin made its way through trade to Oman, where traditional Omani jewelers added the “barrel” on top to allow it to be strung in a large multi-component necklace for a village or nomadic woman from the Nizwa area. She would have purchased the necklace new as her personal property, but with money from her husband. In the event of separation from her spouse, she would be allowed to take her necklace and all other jewelry with her back to her parent’s home. Upon her death, the necklace would have passed to her daughters. And so on..until we fast forward to our current times. Sadly, gold is now al the rage in Oman and traditional silver as jewelry is worn by only a few rural women. In fact, the main jewelry trade spots in Oman are heavily frequented by Indians and their agents who buy the old silver as scrap metal to make new light-weight jewelry for tourists.

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Hence, the importance of the coin as ethnographic evidence of an endangered "silver culture" – that narrow but highly important slice of traditional Omani life that revolved around silvery jewelry design, manufacture, and adornment. As such the piece is not evidence of a living art, but rather a relic of a robust material culture that is being (has been?) consumed by a mania for modern prestige-laden gold. Much of the information regarding this material culture is anecdotal or deductive and there are no absolutes – except that this material culture is rapidly disappearing and, by all estimates including my own, will no longer exist in another 10-15 years.

Tunisian Necklace

Tunisia has a long tradition of silver jewelry craftsmanship and use. Like people in most Muslim countries, Tunisians, particularly women, valued silver jewelry as a store of wealth and a prize possession for personal adornment. Indeed, the latter aspect of traditional Tunisian silverwork is particularly striking as rich traditions from many different cultures, including Tunisian, North African, and Roman, combined to result in a wide diversity of design throughout the many distinct regions of this relatively small country.

The necklace shown in the photo combines Tunisian square silver beads with large graduated Pakistani onyx rondelles. The Tunisian beads are new, but they encapsulate an unbroken tradition of Tunisian silverwork from before the arrival of Roman settlers to modern times. Each side of the bead is embellished with Tunisian motifs to create a surprisingly heavy bead, which is a showpiece either when used as a single centerpiece or, as in this necklace, in tandem with many other square beads.

As in many countries with rich histories of silver, silver in Tunisia has given way in popularity to the allure of gold. As a result, many women in villages and towns have sold their old silver adornments for gold jewelry. The old silver had either been melted into ingots for use in new designs, or the old silver has found its way to the local bazaars, where visitors may acquire it to this day. However, the supply of traditional silver work is not increasing in Tunisia and the number of silversmiths practicing traditional styles can only steadily decrease.

Given this situation, the necklace displayed stands as testimonial to the fine craftsmanship of the Tunisian silversmith and the rich – but disappearing -- silver heritage of Tunisia.

Necklace from Russia, India, Egypt and the Austria-Hungarian Empire

This necklace is composed of amber from Russia, silver beads from India and Egypt, and an old coin from the Austria-Hungarian Empire. The Russian amber is a translucent brown with interesting inclusions that sparkle in the sunlight. The smaller ornate silver beads are typical of Indian manufacture where the silver jewelry industry has been vibrant for centuries due to the steady and insatiable demand by Indian women for jewelry. The large round silver beds are designed and manufactured in Cairo, Egypt for use by Egyptian women (as well as anyone else who would like to purchase them) in traditional-style necklaces.

The center coin is an Austrian-Hungarian piece dated 1900. On one side is the profile of the reigning emperor Franz-Joseph and on the reverse is the double-headed eagle, the eternal symbol of an empire that, even at the time of the coin's manufacture, was veering toward irreversible implosion. During the 1920s, this coin originally formed the centerpiece of a village women's necklace from environs of the town of Lvov. Lvov was a thriving agricultural and commercial town during the days of the empire, but is now simply a quiet historical population center located in the Ukraine. This woman had eight other silver coins on her necklace, all of them from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. With her passing, her relatives in Lvov inherited the necklace and sold it to Russian coin dealers from Moscow during the chaotic period immediately following the break-up of the soviet Union. By this time, the necklace was in very poor condition due to the deterioration of the stringing material and glass beads that were used to complement the coins. So, eventually, the individual coins were offered to buyers in Moscow during the late 1990s.

Hand of Fatima

This necklace has its origins in the Arab world. The two countries represented in it are Syria and Egypt with all their wonderful history and, of course, teeming bazaars that still today function much as they did several hundred years ago.

The large silver filigree beads are from the medieval trading town of Aleppo, Syria. Deep in the heart of the old covered bazaar in the city center are several silver bead sellers who sit in shops not much larger than a telephone booth. The shops feature small drawers filled with silver beads of Syrian manufacture in all sizes and styles. The vendors will readily admit to the buyer that the beads are not sterling, but they are at least 60% silver. Syrian wholesalers purchase them to include in prayer bead strings, traditionally-styled necklaces, and, interestingly enough, key chains.

The lovely turquoise and blue glass beads originate from a family-run business located just on the outskirts of the wonderful old city bazaar of Damascus, Syria. The family makes glass beads for lamps, curtains, silverware, and a wide variety of other household items. When the artist asked to purchase a goodly amount of just the beads, the family responded with warm Syrian hospitality – the beads were a gift, as many of them as the artist could carry away in a backpack.

The center piece is the ever-popular Hand of Fatima named to commemorate Mohammed’s daughter Fatima Zahra. Throughout the Middle East, this image, whether in wood, clay, silver, gold, or any other material, is recognized as a form of protection against the evil eye. The evil eye -- a centuries-old belief spanning many different cultures – is a look of envy from an acquaintance, friend, neighbor, relative, or even a complete stranger that is believed to generate bad luck for the person to whom it is directed. The hand depicted is crafted from sterling silver and is an open right hand. The artist purchased it ten years ago in the middle of the Khan el Khalili bazaar in Cairo in a little unmarked shop. This shop was located up a creaky set of old stairs that opened up into a room completely packed with Egyptian silver sold only by weight to wholesalers – and lost tourists! This shop still exists but with the recent events in Egypt has, along with the rest of the bazaars, suffered a severe downturn in business.