Aggry beads (also spelled aggri beads or aggrey beads) are a type of decorated glass
bead
A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under ...
from
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
, used by West Africans as
ornaments in
necklaces,
bracelet
A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, suc ...
s and other jewelry.
Aggry beads are also called Koli, Cori, Kor, Segi, Accori, or Ekeur.
They are often used for medicinal purposes, as it is believed that they have magical powers.
Beads were used for exchange and as a means of payment during trade in Africa. Europeans first collected aggry beads from the West Coast of Africa in the fifteenth century.
Their origin is obscure. Depending on different sources, beads labelled such may be made from
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
, coral, or stone, and were typically blue.
It is possible that the original Aggry beads came from the Phoenicians, who used it as a means of trading along the coasts of Europa, Asia and Africa.
Sometimes
millefiori
Millefiori () is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). Apsley Pellatt in his book ''Curiosities of ...
beads are called "Aggrey", but this may be incorrect.
References
External links
KettenEHistory of Aggrey Beads
Beadwork
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