Featured Zulu’s men beaded belt- Antique?

Hi all,this feels old to me. The animal skin backing is maybe a little fragile. The beadwork is beautiful. It looks like the ‘newer’ belts have material/cloth backing. It’s 70cm long and 6cm wide. My question is: Do you think this is antique? Thank you for any replies

 

@komokwa

 

it's not newer........ but 100 years old..... I don't think so..

 

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. I found a company that specialises in sourcing and selling of traditional,contemporary Zulu artefacts items. I will mail them and see if I get a response (if so I will also post their reply)

 

Good idea-go straight to the source.Finding a merchandiser that's handled dozens/hundreds of these is logical.

 

Agreed,hopefully I will get a reply (but probably not)
Anyway an interesting object for less than $7 so it was a no-brainer. Thinking it should at least be considered vintage (all standards considered)

 

Coincidentally-I just found a 'supposed' Burma Naga dha basket,perhaps to hold a knife ? Will post pics later.

 

Looking at the types of beads used, particularly on the tassels, I think it is possible that your belt could be 19th-early 20th century. The larger white beads, and the red "white heart" beads (also known as "Cornaline d'Aleppo" beads) on the tassels look like types that are referred to as Hudson Bay beads when found in North American contexts. But most were made in Venice and traded both to the Americas and Africa.

I have been browsing Zulu beadwork in the collection of the British Museum (online), and examples from the 50s and more recent show a brighter, more varied palette of colors. The more limited and darker colors of your belt are similar to some examples documented as collected c. 1850-1910, such as this one -

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1936-1015-4

https://www.britishmuseum.org/colle...ew=grid&sort=object_name__asc&page=1#page-top

You might try sending photos to these folks, who specialize in African trade beads - https://www.picardbeads.com/
It would be best to include a scale in your photos for comparisons.

 

@2manybooks
Great and interesting information (as always) Many thanks for the reply and for your valued opinion. I really appreciate the research you did. Can I just say that the detail and research effort you include in your comments are really a huge asset to this forum

 

I will definitely mail Picard beads and post any reply I get.

 

Pleased to be of help. One of the things I like about this forum is it provides an excuse for me to delve into topics I might not find time for otherwise.