Woman's hair pipe necklace

Hair pipe beads were originally fashioned by hand from bone, shell, copper or stone. By the 18th century they had become trade items made by Europeans and Americans, and by the late 19th century they were being mass-produced from cow bones. Strung horizontally into men's breastplates or vertically into complex women's necklaces, they were a prestigious article of adornment for those who had earned the right to wear them.