Brass necklace

These neckbands were worn by the Naga as a prestige object, whereby the number of cast heads corresponded to the number of heads won by the wearer or the tribe according to tradition. Presumably this choker is made in the cire-perdue casting technique, where old brass pieces were used as raw material and cast into a wax mould.

Metal was a rare and valuable commodity until well into the 20th century. Metalworking was considered as magically significant and therefore as a dangerous occupation, was even forbidden in some communities and was carried out by specialists who then supplied whole groups of villages with their products. Simple bracelets and earrings were bent and hammered into shape from cut-to-size metal strips.