Baoule Circle Bead Clip-on Drop Earrings

These 2 and 1/8 inches (54mm) long non-pierced earrings feature antiqued ornamental circle beads with tube centers plated in gold or silver. Designer Katherine Kornblau has fashion these reproduction earrings after beads made by the Baule peoples of the Cote d'Ivoire around the late 1800's. The Baule made these beads for ornaments and jewelry using the Lost Wax Method (pouring molten metal into wax molds). The Baule usually made their metal beads of brass, and often accented their jewelry with colorful glass beads, most often red. Katherine has hung her circle beads - available in gold-plate or silver-plate - from a simple ball and loop clip and accented them with gemstone beads - Carnelian with the golden earring and Malachite with the silvery one.
Gemstone Notes: Carnelian is a dark red-orange form of Chalcedony, a member of the Quartz family of gemstones and can be found in ancient Arabic, Hebrew, Italian and Roman birthstone tables for August. Malachite is a green semi-precious gemstone with characteristic banding that has been used for jewelry from ancient times as far back as Egypt in 4000BC. Early references associate it with the astrological signs of Capricorn and Taurus.