Large Vintage Sterling Silver Figa or Fist Bracelet - Fits Upper Arm or Bicep

SOLD!!!

Large sterling silver bracelet with closed fists or figas on the ends. This bracelet has a worn stamped designs and is marked sterling. It measures 8" long and the gap in the front is 1-1/8" wide. It could be worn by a man, or on a woman's upper arm or bicep. This bracelet is substantial and weighs 35.2 grams, over one ounce. Condition is very good other than some wear to the design. Insured shipping in the USA or Canada will be $7.00. Orders from most foreign countries are no problem.

The shape of a hand closed into a fist, with the thumb thrust between the first two fingers is a gesture of fertility and vitality. The Italian word fica means vulva, which in turn was derived from the Latin word ficus, for the fruit of the fig tree. Figas have served as popular amulets throughout the Mediterranean region for centuries, and were often used as protection against the perceived dangers of "evil eye" curses. Examples of this symbol have been uncovered at archaeology sites throughout the Spanish colonial sphere, at locations in South Carolina, Florida, the Caribbean, and South America, dating from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. (from Crossroads and Cosmologies: Diasporas and Ethnogenesis in the New World)