Book Review
Silver Treasures From the Land of Sheba
ever, for she uses geography and gender to organize the book, introducing the reader to the many
geographic areas of Yemen before detailing types
and kinds of jewelry the regions’s smiths and jewelers made. She focuses on late nineteenth and
twentieth century jewelry and costumes worn by
Yemeni women. Her research is based on extensive interviews with Yemeni craftsmen who made
and women who owned the pieces.
RANSOM, MARJORIE. SILVER TREASURES
FROM THE LAND OF SHEBA: REGIONAL
YEMENI JEWELRY. Photographs of jewelry and
costumes by Robert K. Liu. Cairo and New York:
The American University in Cairo Press, 2014.
Pp. 244.
ISBN: 978-977-416-600-6.
Marjorie Ransom, a retired US diplomat who
served in the Middle East, has produced a magnificent tribute to Yemeni silversmiths and jewelry
makers. The book is full of wonderful insights
about and photos of jewelry made by Yemeni
craftsmen. She has collected over her lifetime of
service in the diplomatic corps hundreds of pieces of Middle Eastern silver jewelry and costumes;
she shared those pieces through her “Silver
Speaks” exhibit at various museums in the nation, most notably the now-closed Bead Museum
of DC. This book examines in detail the great
contribution of Yemeni silversmiths, Muslim and
Jewish alike, to the production of Middle Eastern
silver jewelry.
Ms. Ransom notes that for centuries Yemen was
divided into North Yemen and South Yemen, the
North oriented culturally toward the Ottoman
Empire, the South heavily invested in India. Ransom’s use of geography does not end there, how10| June-July | RitzyToo! | RitzyToo.com
Yemeni smiths made silver jewelry for centuries.
Ms. Ransom explains that centuries ago Yemeni
smiths, to get silver for their work, began using
Maria Theresa silver thalers, melted down, to
acquire silver. The coin came to the region in the
18th century. The smiths continued using MTs as
they are called into the twentieth century. Even
today, some smiths still have MTs in their shops.
A map introduces the reader to each region with
a brief explanation of its culture and economy.
Then consideration of jewelry produced by area
smiths reveals similarities and differences among
Yemeni regional styles. For instance, Saada
silversmiths produced high, pointed rings, about
the only region in Yemen to do so. Among characteristics distinguishing Jewish smiths in Saada
was their beautiful granulation, illustrated on page
56. Until the creation of Israel in 1948, Muslim
and Jewish silversmiths plied and learned their
trades in Yemen. After 1948, however, nearly all
the Jewish silversmiths migrated to Israel, letting
Jewish jewelry traditions die out. The book is
filled with similar examples of Jewish and Muslim craftwork and interchanges between the two
cultures.
The photographs, taken by Robert K. Liu, editor of Ornament magazine, reveal the detail and
beauty of the pieces. There are over 300 photographs and each complements the text. The book
is well researched and filled with insights into
Yemeni and Middle Eastern culture and craftsmanship, a strongly recommended read.