Hi, guys. I was thinking of buying this Hirz/ Amulet. The guy selling it says he's not sure whether this is even silver or not, consequently, he's selling it for pennies. It looks like a Yemeni(te) hirz to me. What do you guys think? Could it be something else? It does not have a maker's mark. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Yes, it is a hirz from Yemen. Lovely old silver of a good fineness, most likely Maria Theresia Taler silver (MTT), so .833 fineness. Early years of the 20th century, imo. It would have had bells or stylised Hamsa dangles hanging from figure 8-shaped connectors on the loops. The Hamsas are usually cut from a thin sheet of silver, and have 3 fingers instead of five. You can still buy old replacement bells, often with the figure 8 connectors. If you can't find the connectors, you can bend them from old silver wire.
My Bedihi hirz necklace with bells and hamsa dangle, these figure 8 connectors have 'mirrors': I have added a few bells since, in accordance with the original look. Another of my hirzs, this one has figure 8 connectors without 'mirrors'. It is a type you can easily make yourself: Don't worry people, no more tarnish after a gentle clean.
Thanks a lot, Any Jewelry. Those are gorgeous hirzes you've got there. I myself am planning to make a necklace out of the three hirzes I've got, with the big one in the middle. Not sure how this is gonna work out, since I probably have to figure out what kind of beads to have in between them, I'm guessing red coral. I've got enough bells from my second hirz (picture attached); the guy I got it from says they're not silver, or the purity is below that which he could chemically test. Anyway, thinking of having those bells hang from the big hirz in the middle. Perhaps I could add more connectors, since it's only got two.
If you are not too keen on red coral for this you could try something like amethyst chunk beads. Try a search on rough nugget beads. There are quite a few gemstones in the rough that have sufficient "presence" to work with these focal items.
Sounds wonderful, and it is in keeping with tradition. Strictly speaking they should be a similar style, from the same region, but hey, it is yours, so it's good. That is a gorgeous hirz btw, with those Hamsas. If you can't get the right coral, you could also use coral coloured glass. They often used coral glass, tile beads, for instance. They could be something like .500 silver. Yemenis also combined several finenesses at times, and have been known to mix and match silver and other metals.
