Large Blue with White Dots Kiffa Bead Venetian Antique football-shaped opaque white Czech

Antique football-shaped  opaque white Czech glass beads

Some are smaller

22" strand of irregularly shaped beads in a variety of small sizes:

and it has been enhanced sometime in the early 1900s (spruced up with paint of some sort--even the backside has been adorned with paint

Large Blue with White Dots Kiffa Bead Venetian Antique football-shaped opaque white CzechThis very cool 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. 22mm tall x 12mm wide x 10mm thick with a small . 8mm hole. For more