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======================================= Beads ... Amulets ... Sha.
Let's start with "Sha" folks. The Egyptian word for "luck" was the syllable: Sha. The Egyptian word for Beads was: Sha-Sha. Ain't no tough stretch here to figure the wearing of beads was considered good luck. Ah ... but it was considered more than that ... quite a bit more in fact.
It's Monday morning. You're not feeling well. You've had a tough weekend ... what with betting on the chariot races and playing nose-to-nose with cobras to see who could come the closest to an asp's forked tongue without getting fanged ... and drinking mead and watching Salome do her topless thing at the local bistro. Besides ... you don't really feel like going to work today. It's going to be a scorcher and as far as you're concerned ... the pyramids can wait till Tut goes home. So you go to your local priest who knows all about the idiosyncracies of the nasty little creatures that are causing you all your aches and pains. If the mood so strikes him ... he can get you off the hook for the day with an Incanter's note telling one and all you're too sick to work today.
Ah ... an Incanter ... that is what this local priest is. He who has the uncanny ability of recognizing by the pain you describe which particular demon or demons it is that are tormenting you. Not only that ... but our talented priest--who is also ... by some strange quirk of fate ... a jeweler--also has in his back-room parlor a variety of precious and semi-precious gems in the form of beads ... each gem containing the particular power required to cure that which ails you.
There was a constant demand for beaded amulets inscribed with magical symbols in those days ... not very unlike the enlightened needs of today in fact.
The wearing of beads and amulets was treated with great reverence by the wearer ... the seller ... and the prognosticator ... who all had the symbiotic interest of healing the poor tired soul which was presently housing a myriad of evil demons. An agate for you dear sir. A tourmaline for you ma'am. You have a back-ache? Wear this dear soul. Cramps? I have just the string of beads for you. Blindness ... scurvy ... syphillis? Wear this ... and this ... and that.
Everybody owned beads ... men ... women ... children ... from blue-bloods roaming the palaces in regal attire to the lowly collector of empty soda-cans --you thought maybe they didn't have soda-cans in those days? Sheesh! Who could afford to be without supernatural assistance?
And so we come to our modern day beaded necklace ... a $40,000 doo-dad meant for the elite ... a 582 graduated ... beaded ... seven strand ... emerald treasure. Beads range from 5.0 to 10.0 mm. Four strands at the back. 18 karat gold rondelles. Stylized buckle motifs with 227 round diamonds ... total weight 14.00 carats. A site to behold for those of you who like to wear beads.
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And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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