A Nigerian couple at a traditional wedding. Photo Credit: Xsightn

Nigerian women who want the ultimate status symbol used to spend up to $9,000 for a coral bead necklace. Now imitations from China that cost a fraction of the price are feeding a growing market in Africa’s most populous nation.

The prized burnt-orange corals are especially popular among ethnic groups such as the Binis and Itsekiris, who mat the beads into traditional clothing and other adornments worn at weddings and burials.

“Everybody now uses corals for their traditional weddings but it was not possible before because they were so expensive,” says Stella Awoh, an art lecturer at the Yaba College of Technology.

Nigeria’s more than 250 ethnic groups have a long-standing tradition of beads. Some Yoruba women wear “waist beads” under their clothing as flirtatious jewelry that they also use to help them watch their weight.

In the 1400s, Portuguese traders exchanged their own versions of beads for the plentiful palm oil of Nigeria’s southern delta. The beads also served as currency in the expansive slave trade that dominated West Africa until the mid-1800s.

Today, coral beads imported mainly from Italy are among the most coveted by Nigerian women, and they are attributed spiritual value because the coral once was alive. Despite the recent availability of cheap imitations, some still pay top-dollar for only the best.

Ledisi Badom, a corporate professional in Port Harcourt, a city in southeastern Nigeria, traveled to Singapore to get her coral beads before going to Dubai to get them arranged into a design of her choice which incorporated some gold.

“I buy the expensive ones because they are classier and they last longer,” she says.

Yet, experts say it takes a trained eye to recognize them, and a many-a-buyer has been fooled in the process.

“Everything you get in Italy is of high quality but the ones from China come in grades,” says Vincent Uwaje, a bead importer. “Some people order low quality beads and sell them here at the price of high quality ones, which is wrong.”

A necklace of synthetic beads runs between $5-$20, while low-grade coral beads go for $200-$500.

Most are imported, though women from Edo and neighboring coastal areas still make coral beads carved from their own reefs. The flood of cheap imports has had little impact on their business, though, because they tailor to a specific demographic: royalty and chiefs.

“Nigerians like to talk about Italian corals, says Yomi Aje, a geologist with an interest in ornamental stones, but do Italians make beads for Africa’s kings and queens? No.”

In the biggest arts and crafts market of Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos, Jamilu Abubakar, 38, stands behind a sparkling curtain of beads which adorn the facade of his stand.

“There are some beads that come from Nigeria, but mostly they are imported,” Abubakar said. “It’s a global world and people like buying things cheap.”

-AP

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