Leather core, wrapped and covered completely in gold-colored straw. Center has 3 circles made of coiled cord.
Donor's notes say this was made by Songhay women at Timbuktu, where she purchased it in the market in 1965. She says it simulates traditional designs in gold made by the Songhay dyam goldsmiths in Senegal. Mary Jo Arnoldi, Curator of African Ethnology, says that straw jewelry such as this were common in the 1960s and 1970s in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, but it is much rarer today with only a handful of women in Timbucktu still producing this type of jewelry in 2006. They are "poor man's gold", meaning an imitation of traditional gold jewelry. References: Lhote, Henri. 1946. "Bijoux en paille de Tombouktou." Notes Africaines. 33:4 8; Gabus, Jean. 1965. Au Sahara.
