Artist Statement; This piece, a five strand oval collar, was designed to suggest the dark richness and mystery of Victorian architecture in the Hayes Valley and the lower Fillmore of San Francisco. This combination is represented by the black and red celluloid disks from Nigeria. These disks originated in Europe and were traded throughout Africa in the 1920's-1930's. The tribes people valued these beads both for their shape, resembling the black coco-palm money-disks and white ostrich-eggshell heishi. Thus they were able to achieve the same graceful, sweeping curves afforded by the strung heishi with the added feature of color that was possible with celluloid. These beads were mounted here with brass-plated acrylic rondells (from USA). Also included are large red faceted water-buffalo horn rectangles (stained) and natural black-horn cubes from the Philippines. Green aventurine and black quartz cubes comprise the shoulders of this neckpiece, suggesting the cool, polished hallways of these beautiful Victorians, and complete the assembly of materials to make this statement.