Featured Giant Yemeni wedding necklace.

A project I finally finished. All I had to do was clean it and put bells on the round beads, but when it comes to repair projects I am an eternal procrastinator.

It is an impressive ca 1900 Yemeni wedding necklace with silver dugag beads made by the Bedihi family. The beads are the biggest dugag beads I have ever seen, and each bead is signed.
The Bedihi family were famous Yemeni Jewish silversmiths.

The giant pendant is decorated with filigree. The style is often associated with the Bawsani family, but contrary to the Bedihi dugag beads, this piece isn't signed.
The Bawsani family are Yemeni Jewish silversmiths who began to make filigree silver in the late 19th century. The technique of filigree making was introduced in the region centuries ago by Armenian silversmiths.

The yellow beads are a pressed amber composite manufactured in the Königsberg (currently named Kaliningrad) amber works ca 1900.

So here it is, with bells on.




This signature is on every bead:






The back, with a pen for size:

 

Beautiful!

I dislike doing repairs myself!

I'm sure we are not alone!

 

WOWZA! I’d love to rock this one!

 

Such a splendid piece!

 

Gorgeous,but I bet it weighs a ton !

 

Whoaaahhh! What a piece! And you procrastinated just for some bells to add and cleaning...
When I get a piece, I rush at cleaning process! I love that part since my pieces are generally tiny

 

Gorgeous - and congrats on finally finishing it!

~Cheryl

 

Beautiful job and gorgeous necklace !

 

I've never seen anything quite like it before, thank you for showing it, AJ. I am also impressed with your repair skills, I NEVER get around to fixing things!

 

I like the cleaning process too

 

WoW! Zounds! What a piece!
Leslie

 

Yowza! That's begging for a good party.

 

Spectacular, @Any Jewelry !

 

Thats impressive!. I don't think I would have realised those were signatures rather than decorative squiggles!.

 

Thanks, everyone.

It does. One of the reasons why it took so long for me to finish it, it involved a lot of heavy lifting.

 

Tiny is good. Big is good too, but not easy to handle. And even worse to wear.
My tiny jewellery is usually cleaned the day it comes in.

 

Direct result. Works for me too, as long as it isn't big.

 

A heavy metal party?

 

More heavy metal, this one is from Uzbekistan but has some Turkmen influence.
Silver, carnelian, lapis, and glass beads.
Still needs some rings and a bit of a clean, mostly removing old polish. Every time I think I have cleaned it, I discover another patch of old polish (not mine!).