African Beads

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African beads have played an important role through Africa’s history. They still play an important part in our global culture, influencing art and fashion to this very day. African Beads were used for many purposes through the years, they were used for adornment, they might indicate rank or status, also used to communicate talismanic beliefs, unite communities, or used to convey historic or personal events.

These artisans naturally used what raw materials could be found locally; shells, seeds, nuts, bones, tusks, teeth, silver, iron, clay, wood, granite, coral, glass, and amber were all used in bead construction. Gold and other semi precious natural gemstones were also used in bead construction. The style or marking on the beads had their own language and meaning. For thousands of years the bead making ability of these individual artisans have provided us with an array of beauty, diversity and color not found anywhere else in the world.