‘Colares de Contas’

‘Contas’ Necklaces

‘Contas’ are the pieces of popular gold with the most ancient ancestors. In very ancient and primitive civilizations, where metal technology was unknown, they’d use necklaces with various stones and pearls – these were used not only because of their beauty but also for their spherical shape. Afterwards, bulk ‘contas’ made of several metal would appear (the most ancient ‘conta’ made of bulk gold ever found in Portuguese territory dates from the 3^rd millennium b.C. and was found in Sintra’s area).

The current Viana’s ‘contas’, hollow and that, in the past were lighter, descend directly from the Greek, ‘Fenícia’, Roman and Etruscan ones – these last are the ones that best resemble the ones from nowadays. The granulated and the ‘filigrana’ that involve them are just a simple ornament, because what has always prevailed was their round, spherical shape. This shape is found, besides the ‘contas’, in the ‘parolos’ earrings or ‘de chapola’. The ‘contas’ necklace was bought by the woman from Viana before the so desired ‘cordão’ (=string), and sometimes bought a piece at a time, with the few savings of those young women, generally from the trade of eggs or the selling of hens. The ‘contas’ were used in a variable number, according to the place, but never, like now, would they encircle the neck completely. They would only go up to the middle of the neck, connected by a string that could make the necklace bigger or smaller, according to the needs. It would finish at the back with a ‘pom-pom’. The string was handmade, of cotton, and could be red, yellow or blue – and the ‘pom-pom’ was of the same colours or all mixed. The ‘contas’ necklace was rarely used without a ‘pendureza’ (=pendant), usually a butterfly, a ‘canovão’ cross bordered with a ‘esplendor’ (= splendour) or a ‘custódia’ (=devotional miniature).

The ‘contas’ could have several shapes.

Viana – spherical shape, with circles of ‘filigrana’ and granite at the centre – these are the most common.

Pipo (=barrel) – oval shaped, with grooves in the form of a spring

Brasileiras (=brasilian) – they were very desired by our Brazilian emigration in the 1920’s, that’s why they have this designation.

The ‘contas’ were and still are made in Póvoa de Lanhoso.