HvWO 072

Three antique Omani silver "Big toe rings" very old pieces
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Antique Omani silver toe rings

Very rare antique rings for the big toe in Oman! Note the rings are cut (open) at the back and used to have bells connected to them! So you could hear a lady approaching. The rings are cut open so they could be adjusted to any size of toe. Toe-rings were not commonly worn by the Bedouin of Oman. They were only worn as a single toe-ring (called karat) on the big toe and even then they were often not made of silver. In Dhofar ladies had toe-rings with bells, however the shape of the rings was very different from the three rings in our collection (see Oman   Adorned)

Omani antique big toe ring Omani antique silver ring

Omani antique silver ring

 Omani antique big toe rings

Arab name: Heysa / Karat

Period: 1850-1900

Origin: Oman town people. Purchased in Nizwa

 References:
  1. J.L. Carter Tribes in Oman Peninsular publishing 1982 page 27 Toe-ring in the picture third from the left in the top row.
  2. Oman Adorned by Pauline Shelton Robert Richmond / Apex London 1997 p 122-123 shows very simple toe rings page, p 187 ; p 288 to 291 discusses toe-rings from Dhofar