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A digital archive showcasing the extensive collection of jewellery and adornment images shared on the former Ethnic Jewels Ning site over the years. These images have significantly enriched discussions on cultural adornment and its global dispersion.

biglumps

Posted by Stefany Tomalin on August 22, 2011 at 1:52pm
amazing lumps -ID opinions pleasethese are from a stash from a dealer in West African things who died recently. I bid at a live auction- this is one of the extraordinary items that emerged -they are fired clay, very big and heavy, loom weights? Dogon? old? very old?hoping for assistance here! the largest are almost as big as a child's fist; the wide one with little triangular punch marks all over is 6cm diameter at its equator, next to it is a shape with one flat face like an oversized blank seal bead.i only hope the photo will transmit as my friend took it with a proper camera...
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Tags: clay, w.africa, whorls
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  • Eva Baby August 22, 2011 at 9:38pm
    Couldn`t they be very ancient spindle whorls? I have seen such which looked similar to these from Mali. Or they are clay-beads of an antique necklace, could be in Mali. Just an idea...
  • Stefany Tomalin August 22, 2011 at 10:13pm

    thank you- if the holes were more in the centre of each one i'm sure it would be the answer-

    for spindle whorls they would have to be symmetrical to spin around in a balanced way-

    they might be "loom weights" on threads of cloth being woven?

    i'm hoping someone here has knowledge or experience of them...

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