Clothing and adornment

Item Set

Items

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  Simple wooden hair pin with small carved head consisting of two conical shapes

  Simple wooden hair pin with small carved head consisting of two conical shapes. [NSty 08/2021]
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  Back skin with areas of black hair, puckered and gathered hide and two long hide straps

  Back skin with different textures of animal hide sewn together, with areas of black hair, puckered and gathered hide and two long hide straps.
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  Leather strap made of two thin strips decorated with metal bands and conus shell

  Conus strap. Thin brown leather strap made of two strips, each decorated with alternating bands of brass and copper metal pressed flat around the leather. At one end there is a larger flat piece of brass holding the two strips together and the rounded flat end of a white conus shell tied with leather thong through a hole in the shell.
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  Waist belt made from a strip of palm leaf with scratched diamond decoration and frayed ends

  Girl's waist belt for fastening aprons. Made from a flat strip of palm leaf with scratched decoration on the outside creating a textured pattern of dark diamond or triangle shapes. The ends are frayed and twisted into string ties.
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  Topknot made from a tuft of long dark brown feathers and short lighter brown feathers

  Topknot hair ornament made from a tuft of long dark brown feathers, with an outer layer of short lighter brown feathers. The quills of all the feathers are bent and sewn together at the base. There is a length of twisted natural fibre twine attached. This would have been worn on the head by a medicine man or woman. Collected for the Powell-Cotton sisters by missionary Pere Camille Laagel.
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  Topknot hair pin with a large round green beaded ornamental head with three beaded attachments

  Topknot hair pin with a large round green beaded ornamental head on top, with three strings of green beads attached, and a fourth which has become detached. This ornament, which was made to order for the Powell-Cotton sisters, was worn in the centre of a coiffed hairstyle, but the style had become less popular by the time they collected it. It was made from a flattened ball of wax attached to a wooden stick. Strings of small blue beads are then wound round the wax to cover it.
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  Circular wire necklace of black patterned beads and four evenly spaced pairs of white beads

  Beaded necklace made of a circular loop of stiff wire. The necklace is made of round black beads decorated with white spots and spirals. At four evenly spaced points there are pairs of white beads with blue and brown dots. There are 62 beads in total. The necklace is joined with a simple wire loop. This necklace was worn by women.
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  Necklet made of looped wire with alternating black and white beads and five pendants

  Necklet made of looped wire with alternating black and white beads and five pendants, some hanging on chains. Four of the pendants are rounded cross shaped European made medallions. Some have worn designs including lettering and figures, possibly images of Roman Catholic saints. The fifth is a locally made pendant made of a flat piece of gold coloured metal. The shape is a complex symmetrical geometric design decorated with arrows, triangles and diagonal hatching etched into it. The necklace fastens with one end of the wire made into a tiny loop and other end as hook. Worn by a woman.
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  Eight wristlets made from the skin of a wildebeest some with decorative knobs

  Eight wristlets, bracelets or bangles made from the skin of a wildebeest cut in a continuous loop. Some have a single decorative knob, also cut from the same piece of hide, others are plain. Worn by women.
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  Necklace of ostrich egg shell beads with a pendant wound in small blue and white beads

  Medicinal necklace made from a string of onjeva (ostrich egg) beads from which hangs a pendant wound with small blue beads and small white eggshell beads. The necklace has been stained red with lukula.
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  Two earrings, one cog-shaped and one cross shaped, tied with string to a loop of brass

  Two brass coloured metal earrings, attached to a loop of metal with thin string. One is in the shape of a cog, or sprocket, with a circular hole at the centre. There are four spokes leading to an outer circle which has teeth, apart from in one area where it is smooth. The circle is damaged at the end of the smooth area but the item is stable. The second earring is in the shape of an elongated templar cross with a cross hatched etching on one side. It has a protrusion at the top with a circular hole for attaching as an ornament.
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  Necklace and three bracelets each made of two loops of cane wound in string

  Necklace made of two circular loops of cane bound together with string. The string has been wound round the cane in a criss-cross design in groups of four or five threads. Three bracelets are tied to the necklace. Each bracelet is made of two circular loops of cane held together with string wound in groups of between four and eight threads. The ends of the cane loops of both types of object are held in place with a tightly wound plant fibre which is different to the decorative string. A reddish substance has been applied to the necklace.