Two Tuareg Silver and Agate or Carnelian Hair Rings

This splendid pair of silver rings with large, thick, flat, pointy carnelian or agate stones are not finger rings but rings intended to be worn in the hair to keep hair braids in place. They might also have been worn as pendants.

They were worn by the Taureg, a Muslim Berber or Amazigh sub-group who live mostly in Mali but also Niger, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Chad.

The silver of each is engraved with typically Tuareg motifs.

These exact examples are illustrated in Ginzberg (2000, p. 254).

Other examples are illustrated in Borel (1994, p. 96), van Cutsem (2000, p. 48-49), van Cutsem (2005, p. 33), and Seiwert (2009, p. 107).

van Cutsem (2005, p. 266) claims that in Timbuktu, carnelian hair rings were worth twice as much as gold rings. The carnelian most probably came from Cambay in Gujarat, India, and found its way to the Tuareg regions of northern Africa via Mecca pilgrimage routes  and trading routes across the Sahara. Lapidaries operated in Cambay for thousands of years and carnelian and other related stones from Cambay were traded across Africa and Asia. The German city of  Idar-Oberstein is another potential source. It too has a long history of agate mines and gem cutting.

The two have good weight in the hand and are among the best examples of such rings we have seen. They are in excellent condition. Importantly, they have signs of age and wear.

These two rings were in the Marc Ginzburg Collection (and as mentioned, published in a book on that collection). Later it was acquired by Sheikh Saud bin Muhammed Al Thani of Qatar, a profligate collector. The Sheikh passed away in 2014.