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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;2manybooks, post: 10381652, member: 8267&quot;]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 &quot;white heart&quot; beads (also known as &quot;Cornaline d&#039;Aleppo&quot; 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. </p><p><br /></p><p>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 -</p><p>[ATTACH=full]522300[/ATTACH]</p><p><a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1936-1015-4" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1936-1015-4" rel="nofollow">https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1936-1015-4</a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?keyword=Zulu&amp;keyword=bead&amp;view=grid&amp;sort=object_name__asc&amp;page=1#page-top" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?keyword=Zulu&amp;keyword=bead&amp;view=grid&amp;sort=object_name__asc&amp;page=1#page-top" rel="nofollow">https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?keyword=Zulu&amp;keyword=bead&amp;view=grid&amp;sort=object_name__asc&amp;page=1#page-top</a></p><p><br /></p><p>You might try sending photos to these folks, who specialize in African trade beads - <a href="https://www.picardbeads.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.picardbeads.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.picardbeads.com/</a></p><p>It would be best to include a scale in your photos for comparisons.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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