ESTATE Antique Mozambique Carved Ivory NAPKIN RING Start Price USD 475.00 Current Price USD 475.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, September 25, 2008 End Time Wednesday, December 24, 2008 Location Honolulu, Hawaii See more about 'ESTATE Antique Mozambique Carved Ivory NAPKIN RING' Description Mozambique's first inhabitants were the San hunters and gatherers, ancestors of the Khoisani peoples. Between the first and fourth centuries AD, waves of Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from the north through the Zambezi River valley and then gradually into the plateau and coastal areas. The Bantu were farmers and ironworkers. When Vasco da Gama, exploring for Portugal, reached the coast of Mozambique in 1498, Arab trading settlements had existed along the coast and outlying islands for several centuries, and political control of the coast was in the hands of a string of local sultans. Muslims had actually lived in the region for quite some time; the famous geographer and historian, Al-Masudi, reported Muslims amongst Africans in the land of Sofa in 947 (modern day Mozambique, itself a derivative of the name of the Arab Shiekh who ruled the area at the time when the Portuguese arrived, Musa bin Ba'ik). The region lay at the southernmost end of a traditional trading world that encompassed the Red Sea, the Hadhramaut coast of Arabia and the Indian coast, described in the 1st-century coasting guide that is called the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.From about 1500, Portuguese trading posts and forts became regular ports of call on the new route to the east. 'Mozambique' first described a small coral island at the mouth of Mossuril Bay, then the fort and town on that island, São Sebastião de Moçambique, and later extended to the whole of the Portuguese colonies on the east coast of Africa. The square fort at the northern extremity of the island was built in 1510 entirely of ballast stone brought from Portugal. Large BONE/IVORY napkin ring from Mozambique from when it was still a Portuguese colony.Please ask any and all questions before bidding, as all sales are final. Failure to ask any and all questions about the item for auction before bidding is the full responsibility of the buyer. In the rare instance of an acceptable return, there will be a 25% fee.  Place a Bid!