This faience bracelet is made of turqoise colored, faceted, tubular faience beads from Afghanistan and a gold-plated bead from Columbia. The barrel shaped gold-plated bead is an exact replica of Pre-Columbian gold jewerly found in shaft graves and exhibited at the Gold Museum in Bogota, Columbia. To the Incas and Aztecs, gold represented eternity and the sacred source of all life. The wearer of this precious material was bestowed with energy, health and happiness. The symbolic and preferred matte quality of gold was believed to preserve its energy inward, versus shiny, polished gold which was believed to radiate energy outward. Faience beads are a glazed non-clay material composed mostly of crushed quartz and small amounts of lime, sodium carbonate or ash. Faience beads were made in ancient times to replace gemstones such as turquoise and lapis-lazuli. The most famous faience beads, called mummy beads, were found in Egyptian tombs. In ancient Egypt, objects created with faience were considered magical, filled with the undying shimmer of the sun, and imbued with the powers of rebirth. Today, particularly Afghanistan, specializes in the production of faience beads. 18cm/7 inches
