This is a very rare, antique, handcrafted, ethnic silver necklace featuring silver filigree beads strung with antique red coral beads & antique black coral beads which have silver inlay. This gorgeous specimen 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 silver, necklace is in great condition with tribal wear from use. This antique, Yemen silver necklace's center filigree bead measures measures 1 inch wide by 5.40 inches long to the bottom of the dangle. The necklace measures 20 inches long from one side to the other. This necklace weighs 7 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. Please email me for more pictures if needed. 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.