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.
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What a lovely piece, Eva! I like the decorations and matching dangles, too.
I am not sure if it's really from Harar, though. I have a similar one (we talked about it) which is the central pendant of a Wello wedding necklace, very much like one Ingrid showed us some time ago:
https://ethnicjewels.ning.com/photo/cimg0112wollo-ethiopia-wedding-n...
@Thanks Betty, yes you are right about being probably Wollo. Well, the seller sold it as Harar (a seller in Ethiopia, and it came directly per mail from Ethiopia), but perhaps he was wrong.
@Betty : just looked again at the one from Ingrid, thanks for the link. Mine is of course not silver, i wish it were! And one dangle is missing. When it arrived, by the way, it held the dirt of dekades.... I rinsed it first with clear water, which turned almost black.........afterwards I cleaned it with a cleaner and polished it with a Cloth. I like it a lot. Proably it is Wollo........ perhaps Ingrid will comment too. Lets see.
Wrong titel. This is a center piece of a wedding necklace from Wollo. It has a lovely (extra) decoration like the small medallions on the box, unusual. Wollo silver can be good but also a lot with little silver content. Sometimes with these wedding necklaces the boxes can be alright silver but than the bells are mostly nickel or copper. So it is hard to find a compleet necklace with the silver bells. The chain is made up from anklet beads. So no Harrar in this picture really. Harrar does not produce the small beads, their pendants or scroll boxes are always on a linked chain or....!!!real amber beads.
These boxes are filled with charcoal inside in order to prevent denting. ( no religious protection)
Eva, your box is silver including the bells, I cannot quite say how high the content, beause the dirt can be very intense and than hard to say from a photo, I wish you had the whole necklace, because the decoration is more than the usual. Lovely piece really.
@Ingrid, a lot of new Information, thank you. I have no idea if the box is silver, if so is of low silver Content. Looked at it again, perhaps the box itself is of low silver, but the decorations on it is covering a lot, so it is hard to see the actual box. Interesting to know it is filled with charcoal! Yes, I realize that it is not Harar, although the Ethiopian seller says so. I will try to clean it once more tomorrow and see how it Looks....... it was extremely dirty, you must know, when I got it this afternoon.........! I cleaned it, but perhaps another cleaning will help ..When I just rinsed it with water after I opened it, the water became black . Perhaps it is really silver (low), when I look at it.... could be. Have to check again in daylight.
4.3.14 I cleaned it again, it became more shiny, but that is all. It must be a metal mix, containing some copper, as it has a slightly reddish tone. On the flat uncovered part of the box there are stains that I cannot get off, therefore it is difficult to say. The box might contain some silver, but it would be very Little.
Eva dear, This kind of jewellery needs a lot of cleaning but most of the collectors are scared of that. This piece has been intensively worn and there fore the dirt very ingrained. I believe it to be a good piece , because of the extra medaillions on the box to repeat the pattern on the bells are not carelessly done, this was some jeweller who loves his work and was good at it. In Ethiopia copper was mixed in with the silver thalers to make stretch a bit longer, and when polished it was not visable so some cheating was going on, because as it went, people handed in thalers, which was weight and than on delivery it had the same weight (but unfotunately copper made up the weight which had been snibbled away(as a payment more than was agreed upon ,a pity but understandable because their work was far under payed. Harrar, Jimma and Tigrai silver had the better reputation. This in the olden days before 1974.
@Ingrid, thank you so much! I am really happy to have you, you know so much! It all makes sense. I will try to Keep cleaning it again and again to get off the stains on the free surface of the box. If the stains are gone, it could be seen (I presume silver with some copper). It Looks a lot better already, but is not yet in the state I want it to be... I appreciate all your comments a lot, thank you.
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