Selection of Silver & Gilded Silver Trade Beads

This fine string of silver and gilded silver beads shows a selection of antique 19th century beads from various parts of India, Central Asia, Indonesia, Morocco and Sri Lanka.

There are two box-like, pierced silver beads from Orissa, India. So too are three beads with complex gadrooning. There are melon-shaped beads from northern India, probably Uttar Pradesh. One bead is covered with intricate wire work and is from Sulawesi, Indonesia. Another is decorated with parcel-gilding and fine granulation work and it is Kazakh from Central Asia. There is one with applied wire circles and this is from Morocco.

Probably the selection was put together somewhere like Sri Lanka where beads were traded and a local wearer strung them together on the basis of what was appealing and available.

Most of the beads are in good order. Each has clear age. Currently, they are strung together on a plain string and there is no closure to make a necklace – it is an interesting selection of beads – some rare – rather than an actual necklace.