Afghani Inverted Silver Drop earrings. These old Tribal Silver beads date back to the mid-1900s. They would have been handcrafted in the dozens, to be sewn onto head scarves or vests. Of high Silver content and very well crafted, they were obvious signposts of tribal wealth and pre-eminence. These drops are the same on both sides, the five-branch motifs stamped out and neatly fixed to both sides of a thin Silver plate and each given a rope-twist wire surround. The only obvious wear on these two drops is in places on the twist wire-work.
The rosette-centred “S”, from which each drop hangs, is integral to the bead, and soldered closed behind the rosette. This rosette-centred “S”, and the simple strong styling of these Afghani Inverted Silver drops, would indicate that they originally have their source right in the north of Afghanistan, in the regions bordering Turkmenistan, where the “S” link is very commonly used, as is the technique of applying motif to a neatly cut thin Silver plate.
Part of the finesse of this sort of Silver craftsmanship is the achievement of lightness in weight, for at only 3.3 grams each, including the Sydney-handmade Silver hook, these make eardrops very light in weight.