This silver granulation method is no longer practiced in Yemen. The silversmiths all emigrated to Israel in the early 1900s and took with them the techniques of creating unique silver beads and amulets. The beads and amulets were worn as the bride wealth or dowry of the young Yemeni women. The 30 or 40 pounds of silver jewelry -- if her groom and her family could supply her with so much -- would be her life insurance policy, her mad money, the family's emergency bank account and her status symbols for the rest of her life.

The pile of silver jewelry pinned to her veil, hung around her neck, cuffed onto both arms and around both ankles, and placed on her fingers was all made by some of the world's most gifted silver artisans. This example of a large bead with silver granules decorating it would have hung with many others like it on one of the necklaces.
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