Vintage Maasai Glass Beads Polished 4x2-4mm Semi Round - Natural White

• Approximate beads per strand: 150
• Origin: Kenya
• What is it: The Maasai are a group from Kenya known for their traditional handmade jewelry. Made by the Maasai women, the jewelry has a deep cultural history and is often used to express one's individual identity in the tribe such as age, marital, and social status. Before contact with Europeans, Maasai beads were made with mostly local and raw materials. Around the late 19th century a large influx of brightly colored glass beads arrived in Southeast Africa and many Maasai beadmakers began to use glass to create their beads.

Appearances may vary from bead to bead