This is a HUGE, handcrafted, ethnic silver, antique, hollow, prayer box pendant, wedding amulet which has a lid which opens on the side and beautiful dangles and is strung with large, antique, handmade, Yemen, silver beads. This amazing piece was collected in Yemen and has been in my personal collection for ten years; it is very hard to find pieces of this size and quality now coming from Yemen. This antique ethnic silver, necklace is in great condition with some slight denting to a few beads and two small wires holding the side lid  to the prayer box shut. This Yemen ethnic silver amulet measures 6 inches wide by 8 inches long including the dangles. The necklace measures three feet long from one side to the other and has a very nice handmade clasp on one end and lovely handcrafted chain at the other end. From the back of the necklace to the bottom of the dangles measures 21 inches long. Largest bead on the necklace measures 3.80 inches long by 1 inch wide. This necklace weighs 1 pound and 3 ounces. In Yemen for centuries most of the tribally worn silver jewelry was made by Jewish metalsmiths living in the country. These very talented silversmiths used a combination of geometric shapes, filigree work and granulation techniques to create a wide variety of amulets, bracelets, necklaces, chokers and rings. Very often they recycled silver coins and silver jewelry by melting them down to acquire the silver they worked with. Some of these Yemeni pieces have signatures of Hebrew names written in Arabic script. Commonly these 'makers marks' or 'hallmarks' can be found either stamped or engraved with the jewelers signature on small oval or round spots of silver added after the piece was finished. When the nation of Israel was formed in 1948 almost all of the Jewish jewelers living in Yemen left to emigrate to Israel. These antique silver Yemen beads are very hard to find now. Perfect for adding to your Antique Yemen bead collection or for jewelry applications. I combine shipping on multiple buys so please be sure to check out my eBay store where I have thousands of items to browse.