Visible Beauty, Hidden Meaning

Visible Beauty, Hidden Meaning

by | General jewellery topics

Jewellery conference

Visible Beauty, Hidden Meaning

Published on August 05, 2024

What do you do to celebrate your PhD? Throw a party of jewellery talks! I hosted the symposium Visible Beauty, Hidden Meanings in June 2024, bringing together artists, historians, makers, archaeologists and wearers, to discuss personal adornment in the widest sense of the world and from multiple angles. The room in the National Museum of Antiquities was packed with a curious and engaged audience, and well, what can I say: this afternoon was some serious fun!

Visible Beauty, Hidden Meanings: the title

First, why this title? ‘Hidden Meanings’ does not refer to sensational secret codes (hope you were not expecting that), but to the many meanings a piece of jewellery can have. And those meanings are not always straightforward, especially when the observer is from another culture, or from another timeframe, or both.

Speaking for myself, my grandmother could read and explain details in the traditional jewellery of her region that I do not even spot unless they are pointed out to me. Same culture, but different timeframe.

Imagine doing that as an archaeologist, looking at jewellery of thousands of years ago: different culture, different timeframe – and no one to ask!

On top of that, our various disciplines and cultural backgrounds result in us looking at jewellery and adornment differently, too. A maker will spot technical details sooner, a wearer will see what does and does not work, a historian traces shapes and symbols to a wider context.

‘Meaning’ may simply be hidden to us, because we may see a lot of adornment, but we don’t know what to look for.

So, what I wanted to do on this afternoon, is bring together experts from a variety of fields to look at adornment together, share their way of seeing and engaging with adornment, and learn from each other’s viewpoints. A wonderful aspect in that respect was that none of us is only just one thing: you can be an archaeologist, a wearer, a maker and a practitioner all one, or a maker, wearer and researcher. Just like jewellery, people carry multiple perspectives, too, and that is what made this afternoon of cross-overs so inspiring.

Enthralled audience at the symposium Visible Beauty, Hidden Meanings, organised by Sigrid van Roode
Fatima Oulad Thami answering questions from her enthousiastic audience at the symposium Visible Beauty, Hidden Meanings, organised by Sigrid van Roode

Living Adornment

Salma Ahmad Caller opened the symposium with a thought-provoking talk on jewellery and our imagination. What does it mean to adorn oneself? Using adornment as classification tool for ‘Peoples & Types’ heavily relies on only sight as medium, practiced by external observers, and limiting our understanding – but adornment also has profound bodily aspects as well, known only to the wearer. Supported by Salma’s beautiful art works, this talk was a fantastic opening not just of the symposium, but of our minds.

Fatima Oulad Thami took us through Moroccan henna as living, changing heritage. She shared her own experiences as both a henna wearer and henna artist with us, as well as her journey into history and research of this art form. Fatima explained how henna as colorant is used not just for skin or hair, but also on fabrics, connecting the body to things through similar treatment. She also highlighted the bodily sensations of henna, such as its scent, and its capacity of cooling the skin, and its powerful presence in a number of social contexts such as weddings and festivities, and informal rituals.

Fatima explored henna as living heritage through changing patterns, changing modes of application, and a changing clientele. As henna traditions are mainly oral, and not written down in pattern books for example, there is much that may be lost in the near future, and I think we all felt the importance of Fatima’s work.

Wafa Ghnaim tuned in from New York to share her latest research into Palestinian dress, with a focus on headdresses. Wafa learned to embroider from her mother at a very young age, and has since combined her ancestral art with education, research and activism – if ever you’d need a clear example of the profound meaning traditional adornment has in today’s world, Palestinian tatreez is it.

Wafa showed us how adornment expresses identity on so many levels: of a people and culture as a whole, of a region in particular, and finally, the hardest level of identity to trace but the most powerful of them all, that of the person who made and wore an item of dress.

Adornment outside its living context

These first three talks set the scene for the length and width of jewellery and adornment as experienced by living cultures. For archaeologists and jewellery historians, this overview is a bit daunting, as we’re left with only the material remains of a society. We simply have no idea of any of the kind of traditions, customs, habits, and ‘ways of doing things’ a living culture has. But as the next three speakers showed, there is still a lot to be learned.

Karsten Wentink took us back to prehistory with his research into the earliest gold ornaments from The Netherlands. These are mysterious things: beautiful, but we have absolutely no idea how they were worn. By comparing similar items from other parts of Europe, and asking a skilled goldsmith to study the technical details, we may get an idea of how these things were handled in the past. And what is more, these objects were decorated, which led to a lively exchange of thoughts with Fatima on the importance and meaning of patterns on both skin and things.

Yvonne Lammers addressed one of the most difficult aspects of the past to grasp: spirituality and ritual. She drew fascinating parallels between the grave of a richly adorned woman from medieval Fyrkat, Sweden, and wicca practices of her own experience. She based her argument on analysis of the items found with the woman, including hallucinatory aspects of organic materials, contemporary tales of magic and witchcraft, and sensory elements. Here, we looked back at Salma’s talk again: dare we use our imagination and acknowledge this woman as a seeress?

Kim van Zweeden then showed us sentimental and mourning jewellery from the relatively recent past, the 19th and 19th centuries. Here as well, we need to understand the cultural context to get an idea of what all these skulls and fascination with death actually meant. Adornment can be a powerful way to connect with loved ones, either living or dead, and we lingered a while on the intimacy of using another person’s hair in ornaments worn on the body, a topic Jolanda reflected on with her research in dressing the hair of the dead in ancient Egypt.

The audience of the symposium Visible Beauty, Hidden Meanings engaging with books and objects.
Sigrid van Roode trying out replica prehistoric ornaments of Karsten Wentink's research project.
Jolanda Bos sharing her research into the sensory aspects of face veils at the symposium Visible Beauty, Hidden Meanings, organised by Sigrid van Roode

A caleidoscope of adornment studies

Jolanda Bos wrapped all previous topics up in her talk on the sensory aspects of personal adornment. She whisked us through time, from the ancient world to contemporary practices, and showed us how hairstyle, dress and jewellery all work together. For this, she shared many examples from her research on kohl containers from both ancient Egypt and the modern world, face veils, and hairstyles from Amarna.

Here, we touched on perceptions as well as sensations. Perceptions, as Western Egyptologists have long struggled with the concept of greasing one’s hair (even with delightfully perfumed wax), while this makes total sense to people used to caring for African hair. And sensations, in the smell, weight and sounds of face veils, which Jolanda is also working on. A beautiful final talk to conclude an afternoon of adornment studies!

To support the talks, each speaker also brought objects from their own research for the audience to see, touch, smell, and ask about. Jolanda, for example, brought kohl containers and face veils, of which one still retained some of its smell. A fascinating sensation to breathe in the same fragrance as the wearer once did! Fatima recreated a wedding henna set-up with a sugar cone, henna leaves and a bracelet placed atop the cone, Karsten had recreated some of the prehistoric ornaments for us to try, and Yvonne brought replicas of the Fyrkat seeress’ outfit.

This ‘table of things’ formed a perfect medium for our audience to share their thoughts, ask questions and follow up with the speakers during the break and after the last talk.

Visible Beauty, Hidden Meanings: new beginnings

What happens when a henna artist, an archaeologist and a witch walk into a bar…? That is what we did afterwards: get a drink and a bite to eat, and reflect on the afternoon. Turns out, we all loved to hear other perspectives, but also to recognize elements of our own field of study in that of someone else.

For me personally, that flow of recognition was the best part of the entire afternoon: we may all be working with totally different objects in completely different contexts, but by using our collective imagination and inspired by the results and viewpoints of others, new things emerge. This symposium was just too good to leave it at a one-time event: I’ll be definitely organizing more of these in future, so stay tuned and watch this space!

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Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Jewellery and the senses: sight

Jewellery and the senses: sight

by | General jewellery topics

Sensory research

Jewellery and the senses: sight

Published on August 02, 2024

Ethnic jewellery is often studied for its aesthetic, symbolic, and material qualities. But there is much more to it, that is difficult to study from a book or when a jewel is lying in a museum case…and that is the sensory experiences it evokes for its wearers and the people around it. And imagine, for archaeological jewellery that is even harder, as there is no one left to ask! So, I wanted to introduce the relationship between jewellery and the senses: what did a piece of jewellery mean for its wearer? And what do we miss out as researchers and collectors, coming from another culture or timeframe? In this first article, we’ll look at sight.

Jewellery and sight: a very human aspect

Sight might be the most obvious sense. Jewellery, after all, is literally made to be seen. And that is one of the most exciting things I can think of: did you know that jewellery is the first thing ever made by humans, that is not immediately practical, like a tool?

The earliest form of adornment known to date (they keep getting unearthed, so this may change in the future) is a set of shell beads found in Bizmoune Cave, in what today is Morocco. [1] Some 142,000 years ago, some created a necklace of shells here. Just think of what that means: this early human knew how to make an impression. They were aware of their own self, and they knew how to manipulate the impression they made on others.

Wearing jewellery helps to regulate social interaction, and apparently, we have been doing that for a very long time.

Want to see how long? The Ancient Jewellery-course brings you 5,000 years of jewellery history in the Middle East and North Africa!

Jewellery and sight: social information

Fast-forward from the distant past to our timeframe. The Maasai of East Africa use beaded jewellery to signify age, marital status, and social roles. [2] Each colour and pattern has a specific meaning, creating a visual language that communicates complex social information at a glance – if you know how to read them, of course.

And that goes for almost all jewellery. The tizerzai or clothing pins from the Maghreb communicate tribal affiliation as well as geographic location: the decoration on pins in one village may be every so slightly different from those in the next village, the amount of jewellery someone wears, has a lot to say about their wealth, and specific symbols may be used to indicate which religion they adhere. It’s all meant to be seen.

Serving as visual communicator is an important capacity of jewellery, and one that directly involves others: the wearer, and the persons around them. ‘I wear this jewellery so you can see who I am’.

Jewellery and sight: showing complex knowledge

And sometimes, there is even serious knowledge hidden in plain sight! The most spectacular example I can think of, comes from the Bronze Age in Europe. It’s a huge, pointy hat (very Harry Potter-style) made entirely of thinly hammered sheet gold. It is decorated with regularly spaced bands and repeating patterns. A curious headdress, you might say, and leave it at that. Until someone started looking at these in earnest. The ‘decoration’ turned out to be a calendar – and not just any calendar, but an intricate system that combines lunar and solar calendars. [3]

Jewellery and sight: a visual language

Apart from communicating identity or displaying knowledge, there is more to seeing jewellery. It can also convey intent, or subtle messages the wearer does not want to say out loud. And jewellery can be designed to frighten both people and evil spirits.

In real life, war adornment combined with body paint is often intended to put fear into the hearts of adversaries on the battle field, such as in Papua New Guinea. For invisible presences, those bright colours, intricate designs, and even the reflective qualities of metals catch the attention, and avert that attention away: the basic principle behind the Evil Eye.

Is evil eye jewellery good or bad? Find out in this blog!

An example from Siwa Oasis, in Egypt, is when a woman would wear her head jewellery just slightly differently: it told her mother-in-law that not all was well in the marriage. [4] Here again, you’d have to know these subtle codes to understand them: ‘I wear my jewellery so you can see what I want or need’.

Jewellery and sight: the perspective of the viewer

This aspect of sight is also in play when it comes to the size of jewels, or their placement on the body. Large jewellery can be seen from a distance, but to see their decoration, you’d have to be closer to the wearer. When it comes to warding off evil, jewellery can be active over several distances. The shimmering and movement of jewellery can be seen from afar, and when any evil forces should be closer, the intricate decoration patterns as well as protective texts are powerful barriers, too.

And that is not just for invisible powers: the distance of sight also works wonders for the age-old practice of keeping up appearances. On first glance, a person might be seen wearing a fortune in coin jewellery; only upon closer inspection, they may turn out to be imitations.

Jewellery and sight: hiding from view

On the other side of seeing is invisibility. Some jewels, or other forms of personal aesthetic such as tattoos, are not meant to be seen by all and sundry. They are deliberately hidden from view, worn underneath clothing or, in the case of jewellery, decorated on the reverse side – the side only known to the person wearing it.

See an example with a hidden image from Oman here.

Jewellery and sight: aesthetics are not to be overlooked

As you see, the visual impact of jewellery is huge: it conveys status, identity, and cultural affiliation. It also depends on the distance between you and the viewer what the latter will see: a given you can make deliberate use of. And there is that which you want to keep private: playing with visibility and invisibility is one of the most powerful capacities of jewellery.

And that is also where research comes in: you’d have to realise you may be looking at visual codes, instead of just a pretty colour combination or lovely pattern, to fully understand the social and cultural context of the jewellery. Aesthetics are not simply decorative, but are deeply tied to the identities and traditions of the wearers. They tell us how these pieces function within their communities.

In the next installment on the sensory dimensions of jewellery, we’ll be looking at touch!

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References

[1] Sehasseh et. al. 2021, Early Middle Stone Age personal ornaments from Bizmoune Cave, Essaouira, Morocco, in: Science Advances vol. 7 no. 39. Read it here

[2] See for example this blog

[3] Menghin, W. 201. Der Berliner Goldhut. Macht, Magie und Mathemathik in der Bronzezeit. Schnell-Steiner

[4] M.M. Vale 2015. Siwa: Jewelry, Costume, and Life in an Egyptian Oasis. AUC Press, Cairo

Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Coin jewellery in the Middle East

Coin jewellery in the Middle East

by | Objects

Research project

Coin jewellery in the Middle East & North Africa

Published on July 29, 2024

One of the most common sights in jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia is the use of coins. This is a widespread custom throughout the region, and beyond. You’ll see coins decorating headbands and face veils, dangling from chains and temple ornaments and sitting in rings, brooches and bracelets. But what is the point of coins in jewellery? Can you pay with them? I’m explaining in this article, and excited to tell you more about my new research project, too!

Coin jewellery: origin

To our eyes, any monetary value coins in jewellery may have, is annulled by their treatment to make them decorative. They may be pierced and sewn onto clothing or strung onto metal wire; they might be hammered into dish-like shapes, soldered onto diverse items of jewellery or even decorated with glass, coral or semi-precious stones. Sometimes, they are so densely covered with enameling that you’ll need to flip one over to see that underneath that is an actual coin. So, what’s up with that?

The answer goes back far in time. Coins were an indication of an established silver (or gold) content in the times before hallmarks and assay offices existed. Those were only developed during the 19th century, so during the millennia before that, coins were things whose value was directly related to their silver content.

No matter if you drilled a hole through it or folded it double, a coin would still be worth its value in the weight of its silver content: archaeological excavations have shown coins to be simply chopped into pieces, which each continued to be valid methods of payment.

Because of their guaranteed silver content, there were two coins which were appreciated much more than others: the Maria Theresia Thaler from Austria, and the columnario or pillar dollar from Spain.

Find out more on the Maria Theresia Thaler here

See why the Pillar Dollar was the first international coin here

Coins retained this importance until a gold standard was established. From that moment on, a coin represented a certain amount of gold in the state’s treasury: the basic concept of money, as we know it today. But by that time, the practice of wearing coins in jewellery had well and truly taken hold, and that is why you’ll still see modern currency jingling from necklaces and veils.

Learn to read jewellery! Four colourful images of online courses.

Coin jewellery: the one thing to be aware of

Before we dive into the fun stuff, there is one myth I’d like to bust here. With all these wonderfully dated coins in jewellery, it is tempting to date an entire piece based on the age of the coins you find in it. After all, when a coin in a necklace is from, say, 1865, surely the piece itself is that old, too? Well….no. Big no-no. This is where you need to look extra closely at the piece itself.

With coins, the thing is that there are so many of them. Thousands of them still circulate. Old coins, and by that I mean coins from the 19th or early 20th century, are still available by the strand in some cases. They have been used as pendants for example, and when the original necklace was taken apart, they were simply gathered and put to use elsewhere.

So just picture it: I could take a few of those, string them into a necklace with a variety of beads, and I’d have a necklace that is made as recently as, well, tomorrow.

A coin alone does not date a piece.

Here are 5 tips to spot if a necklace has been restrung.

And here are 5 pointers on how to tell if jewellery has been altered in general – and when that matters.

A faceveil from Palestinian/Egyptian Bedouin, showing coins.

Coin jewellery: research possibilities

And now: the fun stuff! In addition to the pillar dollar and the MTT, many local and regional coins were worked into jewellery or costume ornaments. These are usually taken from the currency of the immediate region. And this is where it gets interesting! Here are just a few examples.

On the Arab Peninsula, local coins are found alongside Indian rupees. These rupees, in turn, are not found in jewellery any further west than Egypt. In the Maghreb, coins from nearby Spain, as well as France and Italy are common (the latter two because of colonization). Here, you may find Italian Victor Emmanuel coins, and France’s gold napoleons, but those are rarely seen east of Libya.

So, you see how the variety of coins worn as jewellery indicates the larger group which the wearer was in contact with. You could literally draw a map based on coinage found in jewellery, and see how jewellery allows us to trace geopolitical and economical spheres of influence. Jewellery also illustrates the visual effect of larger political landscapes: in those countries that formed part of the Ottoman empire for example, many Ottoman coins are found alongside more regional currencies.

Occasionally, coins also bear testimony to the existence of greater trade distances. One example is a pair of Moroccan fibulas, fitted with Dutch lion dollars. Or what to think of a Saudi-Arabian coin that ended up on a Turkmen guljaka or coat button, or Moroccan earrings with wartime US pennies? Each of these has a story to tell.

Coin jewellery: historic jewellery

The research possibilities that coins in jewellery have to offer, are huge. That’s why I have initiated a new project aimed at bringing this aspect of jewellery as a historic source to life. The result will be a comprehensive overview of coins used in jewellery and personal adornment, and of course I will be sharing regular updates on the blog. Interested in learning more? Drop me a line!

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More posts on jewellery and research? Browse them all here!

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The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Jewellery and dress

Jewellery and dress

by | Opinion

Two fields of research

Jewellery and Dress

Published on July 26, 2024

Jewellery from the Middle East and North Africa is always part of a larger ensemble: it is linked closely to other elements of personal appearance such as clothing and body aesthetic. Often, it’s not even possible or even necessary to discern where jewellery ends and dress begins. I believe the two are too often presented as separate, while in many cases, they are created to fit together. And on the other hand, I also believe they are two distinct fields of research. So how does that work?

Jewellery and dress: a practical connection

Starting out with the most practical connection: that where jewellery is an integral part of dress. Many jewellery items are designed to fasten clothing or to keep textiles in place: they are as much part of one’s attire as zippers are. That is not limited to North Africa and Southwest Asia: many cultures around the world use an astounding amount of pins, hooks, clasps, and buttons. All of these can be beautifully decorated and some of them are really meant to catch our attention, like the huge toggle buttons worn on the island of Sardinia (Italy), for example.

And when that costume changes, its jewellery changes along with it or even disappears. Many jewellery items are no longer worn, because the costume they were an integral part of, has changed. That is a super logical domino-effect, but one that is not always acknowledged.

Large silver buttons on a sleeve in Sardinia, Italy
A stunning hair pin from Sri Lanka, called kondakoora.

For example, the large Amazigh clothing pins, known as tizerzai, tiseghnas or khlel, that kept the traditional dress of the Maghreb secure, are no longer used as everyday wear, as these garments themselves are no longer worn – at least not widely or on a daily basis. The pins are however proudly worn on festive occasions: although their practical use has dwindled, their life as carrier of cultural identity certainly has not.

Another example is hair jewellery. Hairstyling is an important part of body aesthetic and of social practices, and jewellery was used to keep these wonderful hairdos in place. Here as well, changes in hairstyle bring about changes in jewellery, another example of how closely connected jewellery and dress are.

One example, from yet another region of the world, is the beautiful kondakoora hairpin, which was worn in Sri Lanka. This lavish pin, set with coloured zircons, was placed on hair tightly rolled into a bun. After this custom disappeared, the pins were repurposed as brooches.

See more about hair ornaments in this article – they’re also worn in surprising other fashions!

Learn to read jewellery! Four colourful images of online courses.

Jewellery and dress: glittering fabric

Other pieces of jewellery have become so associated with the textiles they are worn on, that it is useless to try and tell where the jewellery ends and the clothing begins.

Take the richly ornamented face veils from Sinai and Palestine for example, which combine both textile and jewellery traditions. The tatreez embroidery that is so well known from clothing is also used on the face veil, which also carries beads, coins and small pieces such as silver amulets. You’ll find these beads, coins and amulets in turn also strung onto necklaces or sewn on garments themselves.

And the flowing headveil shown above, worn in the region of Mount Lebanon, forms a unit with its stunning tapering tantour of embossed and chiseled silver.

The elaborate face veils of the Rashayda are also both an element of dress and of jewellery. These are made of textile with silver woven in, resulting in very heavy and glinting veils. These are further embellished with silver pendants and amulets, that may equally be worn as jewellery.

This tradition of textiles embellished with silver or even gold thread is found in many garments from the region. It’s called badilah or badla, telli or talli, zari or zardozi. In the Western world, the glittery fabrics from Egypt are commonly known as ‘Assiut’ textiles. [1] They are named after the Egyptian town of Assyut where these were produced as export product during the Roaring Twenties.

Spendid Rashayda dress and silver jewellery.

Jewellery and dress: patterns and designs

The line between jewellery and dress fades even more in the case of embroidered embellishments.

The chest panel of Egyptian Siwa oasis wedding dresses is embroidered in the pattern of an amulet necklace, and even the use of colour in some embroidery styles is similar to colours used in jewellery. And the chest panel of a dress from Bahariya oasis, also in Egypt, is decorated with shining applications. An example is above: click on the image to enlarge it.

The same goes for patterns and shapes used: not only common designs such as triangles, but specific shapes such as fish, tortoises, stars and floral designs exist both in jewellery and in dress as well as in body aesthetics – and beyond, such as in basketry, weaving, but also in architectural decoration like the painted symbols on houses.

It is their meaning to the wearer that is central, instead of a division by material or object category. In some cultures, these designs and meanings overlap on both jewellery and dress, amplifying one another, and in others they differ per material carrier, but work together as an ensemble.

Jewellery and dress: together, they are more

That is what I find so fascinating about the potential of jewellery as a historic source: comparing it to other elements of a person’s personal appearance, and looking beyond that to the complete setting of that person in their context of their home, family, and culture, shares a lot about how people viewed themselves. But: that takes a village.

For my line of work, for example, I would never call myself a dress specialist. That is simply not my area of expertise. Studying jewellery, on the other hand, is not something one can add ‘on the side’. Both fields are vast in and of themselves. The most meaningful (and fun!) projects I have been involved in, are those where dress and jewellery specialists work together: it’s exciting to see this many-layered heritage highlighted from different angles!

So, just like jewellery and dress are more than just adornment when studied together, those studies themselves become more than their single fields when specialists work together. Who wants to team up…?

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Find out more about the histories behind jewellery in the e-courses!

More posts on jewellery and research? Browse them all here!

Join the Jewellery List and receive new articles, jewellery news and more in your inbox!

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Discover more on jewellery today!

References

[1] For some reason, this is often misspelled as Assuit. I have no idea why, as the town really is called Assiut, not Assuit. A case of endless copy-paste from a faulty source, I think!

Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

The Maria Theresia Thaler

The Maria Theresia Thaler

by | Objects

Coins in jewellery

The Maria Theresia Thaler in Middle Eastern jewellery

Published Feb 26, 2024

The Austrian Maria Theresia Thaler was to become the most widespread and well-known coin in Africa and Asia. It is the first international coin, and it was particularly popular in the Middle East and North Africa. What is the story behind this popular coin?

The Maria Theresia Thaler: its history

The Maria Theresia Thaler gets its name from Habsburg heiress Maria Theresia. Maria Theresia ascended to the throne of the Habsburg empire in Vienna aged 23, on the death of her father Charles VI. She was crowned Queen of Hungary in 1741, Queen of Bohemia in 1743, and bore the title of Empress from 1745, when her husband became Holy Roman Emperor Francis I.  From 1741 onwards, she had her own coins minted.

Maria Theresia ruled for forty years. She had sixteen children, one of which was the ill-fated Marie-Antoinette who would, much later, be beheaded in the French Revolution. But what she really managed to pull off was improving the economic situation of the empire. When she came to the throne, it had serious debts, and it took a determined CFO to get the empire afloat again.

From 1753, the Maria Theresia Thaler became increasingly popular; the empress officially announced the silver content of this and other coins to be minted in Bavaria and Austria, and set the exchange rates and the design standards in a treaty with Bavaria.

Being officially guaranteed and very hard to forge due to the intricacies of the design, the coin quickly became much sought after by traders and merchants. 

What does the name thaler mean?

The word thaler refers to the Joachimsthal (meaning Joachims’ Valley) in Bohemia, and it was here that silver was mined and minted into large silver coins. After the source of the silver, they were called thalers. Soon this German word became the generic term for basically any large silver coin and, as such, was quickly absorbed into various other languages. And you are very familiar with it: this word became ‘dollar’ in English.

Maria Theresia Thaler: enduring heritage

When Maria Theresia died in 1780, the coin was still in such high demand that it continued to be struck, forever bearing the date of 1780. These are called restrikes. It was accepted as official currency in Austria until 1858, when it continued to be in use as official trade coinage, but no longer as domestic currency. Since then, the coin has been in almost continuous production.

It played an important role in the coffee trade, was used in World Wars I and II to pay North-African allies and has acted as official currency innumerable times. Today, it is still used in the markets of Oman as a solid weight to measure silver objects. Actually, it is still produced by the Vienna Mint, and estimates have anywhere between 300 million and a staggering 800 million MTTs in existence today.

Maria Theresia Thaler: its many names

In European shorthand, the Maria Theresia Thaler is often abbreviated to MTT.

The MTT was the most popular coin in circulation in North Africa and the Middle East and went by many names: Abu Tayr (Father of Birds) referring to the imperial eagle; Abu Nuqta (Father of Dots) a reference to the number of pearls on the brooch of the empress; and Abu Rish (Father of Feathers) a name suggested by the eagle’s many tail feathers.

All these distinctive features were used to check the authenticity of the coin. Because, as I will show you later, this coin was imitated as a large scale. In purely monetary terms, the coin was referred to as Riyal Faransawi, (French Riyal) or Riyal Nimsawi, (Austrian Riyal).

Maria Theresia Thalers in jewellery from North Africa and the Middle East

The MTT is used in jewellery from the Maghreb all the way to Southeast Asia. You’ll find it in three ways:

1 – As complete coin. The coins are added to headdresses, necklaces, face veils and even rings. They may have bails added to them to facilitate stringing, or holes pierced into them to sew them firmly to a textile backing.

Usually, the visible side of the thaler is the reverse, depicting the eagle and coat of arms; since representations of human beings are forbidden in Islam, the coin is usually worn with the effigy of the empress on the underside.

2 – Fashioned into another shape. In this case, the coin has been altered, but can still be recognized. Examples are the crosses from Ethiopia, where the central element of the coin can still be seen in the centre (so the portrait of the empress or the coat of arms).

3 – Invisibly. Unbeknownst to most people, the thaler even has an invisible presence. Its high-grade silver content made it the material of choice for a lot of silver jewellery. Occasionally, the coin was fashioned into a pendant, on which traces of the original can still be seen, but the coins were more commonly melted down and reused completely.

Most thalers in jewellery are restrikes, all bearing the date of 1780. That does not mean they are actually from 1780: in fact, they may be relatively new.

Just like the pillar dollar, this coin was imitated very often, too. This was to serve more as a status symbol than as actual currency, and so you’ll find imitations in a varying range of success.

The Maria Theresia Thaler: the most popular coin in jewellery

You’ll see MTT’s used in jewellery very, very often! Sometimes, they have sat together for so long that it reflects in their wear patterns, and sometimes they are so new that the design is still crisp and fresh. Both old and new coins, as well as their imitations, reflect the importance of a steady source of silver for both economical purposes and jewellery: a tradition that has continued for 3 centuries!

This article is based on my book Desert Silver.

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References

[1] Although the pillar dollar was a coin of equal importance, many more books have been dedicated to the Maria Theresa Thaler. See for example Gervais, R. 1982. Pre-Colonial Currencies: A Note on the Maria Theresa Thaler, in: African Economic History No. 11 and Pond, S. 1941. The Maria Theresa Thaler. A famous Trade Coin, in: Bulletin of the Business Historical Society Vol. 15 No. 2. A very helpful book is Semple, C. 2005. A Silver Legend: the story of the Maria Theresa Thaler, Barzan Publishing.

[2] Vale describes how in Siwa oasis silver coins, obtained after selling a good harvest, were sent to the silversmiths to be melted down and turned into jewellery. See Vale 2011, p. 32.

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The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.