I have been back from Bamako for a week now. What did I buy, you ask.....?
Hmmmm.....yards of hand loomed and hand printed textiles..... Miles of African trade beads, some vintage, some hundreds of years old.....
A medley of black and white - two colors that are always right. The rugs made up of sewn together strips, the cloth woven on narrow looms.
Slick, graphic coils of record beads - oh hundreds, oh thousands of vintage discs . A graphic point of focus when displayed. 
Meters of Bogolan cloth the color of the earth, some new, some vintage.
Strands and strands of antique glass trade beads, so luminous, and so very old. 
Hand dyed indigo and lustrous bazen cloth. How I wish I had bought more. 
Strand after strand of muted blue glass trade beads. Nearly 200 years old. A dealer from Holland almost cried when she saw that I had bought the lot of 20 for display on two stands. I gave her two strands, just to be nice.
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And there's more..... But a girl can't reveal all her secrets, now can she..............
