There was a practice among the elite of the Nguni people in south-east Africa of wearing necklaces strung with leopard's and lion's claws, symbolic of the ferocious power of these animals. (A lion's claw necklace reputed to have belonged to King Cetshwayo is illustrated in Zulu treasures, Durban, 1996, K19.) As a result of the increasing scarcity of claws, as wild game was rapidly hunted out, a parallel tradition evolved of wearing necklaces made from pieces of bone carved to imitate the claws of such wild beasts. These were known by Zulu-speakers as amazipho. Among the Xhosa-speaking people a bride's outfit often included an animal-tooth necklet, or a carved imitation, which was sometimes strung together with beads. (See P Davison, 'Some Nguni crafts: the uses of horn, bone and ivory', Annals of the SA Museum, 70(2), 1976, pp125, 132.)

There is a related necklace in the Johannesburg Art Gallery (illustrated in M Stevenson and Deon Viljoen, South African art 1850-2003, no 3) and also one in the Conru collection (The art of South-east Africa, Milan, 2002, no 112).