Antique Yemeni Fabricated Ethnic Silver Bedouin Hollow Beads Yemen African Trade

This is a set of two handcrafted ethnic silver metal antique Bedouin hollow beads in a very rare shape which were all collected from Yemen. This ethnic silver Yemeni bead set is in great rustic condition with some dents and wear. These amazing beads measures 1.15 inches long by 1.41 inches wide / 1.14 inches long by 1.47 inches wide. In Yemen for centuries most of the tribally worn silver jewelry was made by Jewish metalsmiths living in the country including this bead. These very talented silversmiths used a combination of geometric shapes, filigree work and granulation techniques to create a wide variety of amulets, bracelets, necklaces, chokers and rings. Very often they recycled silver coins and silver jewelry by melting them down to acquire the silver they worked with. Some of these Yemeni pieces have signatures of Hebrew names written in Arabic script. Commonly these makers marks or hallmarks can be found either stamped or engraved with the jeweler's signature on small oval or round spots of silver added after the piece was finished. When the nation of Israel was formed in 1948 almost all of the Jewish jewelers living in Yemen left to emigrate to Israel. These antique silver Yemen beads are very hard to find now.