description: From the mines in the cantos of Dante, to the prizes stolen in the wars of the 'nineties, a silver thread winds through Balkan history. This book unravels its most intricate tanglings from the incongruous filigree fashion show in the Albanian highlands to the serious Yugoslav-era silver schools. En route we visit those who live from lifting the silver from the earth, craftsmen from Istanbul to Kosovo who produce lacy creations from dull sticks of raw material, impoverished collectors who've sold their homes in order to preserve exquisite pieces of jewellery when their governments won't bother, and a brave new generation of women working fragile miracles with hard metals to secure their independence.
language: English
title: The Silver Thread; a Journey through Balkan Craftsmanship
publisher: Elbow Publishing