Old Kiffa Beads from Mauritania
The term "Kiffa" bead is a relatively new name that was created during the 1980s by US bead collectors because many of these beads were being made in and around the Mauritanian town of Kiffa. The beads are made from finely crushed glass and a binder, often saliva, and they are fired without the use of molds. For their wearers, these unique Mauritanian powder glass beads had amuletic properties, their colours and the many different, intricate decorative patterns all having specific meanings.
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