Large Repaired Rare Kiffa Bead Cylinder with a metal riveted insert

with a metal riveted insert at the hole

Heavily worn from constant prayer rubbing during the past 70+ years

47mm diameter with a slight 6mm raised bump in the center of the shield

5mm thick (solid silver backing)

Large Repaired Rare Kiffa Bead Cylinder with a metal riveted insertThis very cool and magical bead was made in Kiffa, Mauritania. It is very old and was made as a female fertility charm, mainly by women artists. Historically, Kiffa beads are very important as its ancient technique (dating to 1000 years ago) made it one of the oldest glass bead making processes in Africa, which was purely African in origin. This bead is around 200 years old, possibly older, and it has been enhanced sometime in the early 1900s (the