B593NA “World Traveler”

Rich and beautiful, this pretty one-of-a-kind story bracelet takes you to Tibet, Venice, Afghanistan, the Baltic, China, Africa and India! The focal bead is a fine antique Tibetan copaL/amber beauty, hand embellished with Tibetan silver and six little snake eye beads in blue and red. It was probably once worn in a necklace by a tribal dignitary and later recycled, and here it is!

It hangs about 1.5″ from the shell band and is light in weight. The two yellow beads flanking the focal are End of Day trade beads from Venice and traded to Africa long ago. The name refers to adding all the tiny scraps from a day’s work making glass beads to the body of the last bead of the day. There are two clusters of Baltic amber, four pretty dangle charms from Afghanistan, all with fine designs and stones in black and green. Tribal silver is not sterling silver but an alloy of silver that the tribal folks could afford in their hand made jewelry crafts. They often added brass or bronze for a warmer decorative look.

This pretty bracelet also has a variety of collectible trade beads, Europe to Africa, three large turquoise nugget charms from China, a feather and an eagle in sterling silver, Native American designs, four large slabs of yellow agate charms and two not-quite-sterling beads from India. All other findings are sterling, including the bead caps but I’ve left the patina where it occurs, as found. The band of this bracelet is made with white ostrich shell discs, light weight and a good foil for all the other colors. There are lots of sterling silver spacers and the toggle clasp is also sterling silver. The length of the bracelet is about 7″ to 7.5″