High quality handcrafted sterling silver worrybead set with semi-precious onyx beads.

Made in Greece of 925 degree sterling silver. Approx weight 19gr.

A "Komboloi" ( Worrybeads ) Primer:

Travel through a Greek village, and one one of the most picturesque sights will be men gathered at the local "kefenion", talking politics over coffee, while working their komboloi. Part prayer beads, part fidget toy, the origin of this most Greek object remains a mystery. Some say the komboloi are mimics of Turkish prayer bead strands. Others believe that during the Turkish occupation, Greeks were forbidden from shaking hands and the beads were intended as a reminder not to shake hands. Perhaps the most widely believed theory is that komboloi are derived from knotted prayer strands (komboskini) used by Greek Orthodox monks.

Komboloi used to be the province of older, traditional minded men. Recently, however, komboloi have become a fashion accessory to modern young Greek men, and even some women. Komboloi are composed of sixteen to twenty beads strung together and tied off with a single bead and a tassel. Beads come in many varieties, including plastic, ceramic, bone, glass, amber and coral. The beads are usually strung on leather, string or fine metal chain. Perhaps the most striking komboloi are those with beads made from cobalt blue glass, whick wards off the "evil eye". Komboloi indeed come in many varieties that vary in price from a few dollars to a thousand dollars or more, depending on the materials used.

Whether you first notice komboloi in a Greek's hand or in one of the colorful displays at souvenir shops in Greece, they are bound to be strangely compelling. Once you touch them , and feel the smooth beads sliding through your fingers, you may find yourself hooked.

Onyx is a cryptocrystalline form of quartz. In its natural form, colored bands streak through its center (ranging from white to almost every color, except for purple or blue. True onyx is simply a black and white banded variety of quartz allied to agate. These bands being straight and parallel, onyx is sometimes known as "zebra agate" or, if the stone is completely black, "black agate".Commonly, specimens of onyx available contain bands of colors of white, tan, and brown. Sardonyx is a variant in which the colored bands are sard (shades of red) rather than black. Pure black onyx is common, and perhaps the most famous variety, but not as common as onyx with banded colors.

The name "Onyx" is derived from the Greek meaning 'claw' or 'fingernail'. (With its fleshtone color, onyx can be said to resemble a fingernail.) During the 1950s it was very popular as a stone for men's signet rings. It is now used for intaglios and cameos, necklaces and small pieces of jewelry. It has a very wide provenance, being found wherever there is quartz.

Onyx was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and use of sardonyx appears in the art of Minoan Crete, notably from the archaeological recoveries at Knossos. Onyx was used in Egypt as early as the Second Dynasty to make bowls and other pottery items.