Large & Impressive Silver Belt with Carnelians & Coins

This large and impressive belt comprises 14 wide silver panels decorated with applied silver granulation work, silver plaques, seven large carnelian (agate) cabochons in silver box settings, and 15 applied silver coins. The coins are riyals from Saudi Arabia.

Thick, cream cotton calico has been threaded through each of the panels, which holds them together and giving the belt structure.

The belt opens at the front with a long, pull-out pin attached to the belt by means of a heavy silver chain.

The carnelian stones used in this piece are unlikely to have been heat treated. Most carnelians used in Yemen and Saudi Arabia were imported from Cambay (Khambat) in Gujarat, India, where heat treating was not used. Carnelian has been traded from Gujarat to the Middle East and Africa for thousands of years.

According to the author and researcher Marjorie Ransom, the belt is likely to be the work of Yemeni Jewish silversmiths who lived in Habban, Shabwa Province in Yemen until the late 1940s.

This is an impressive belt with no losses or repairs.