Zanzibar Trading Company - Sacramento's Fair Trade Store & Gallery

Sacramento's World Import, Tribal Art, Jewelry & Fair Trade Store & Gallery

offering items from over 100 countries:

Purveyors of Museum Quality Imports

Welcome to the name sake island (Zanzibar) which for centuries stood as a bastion of commerce and culture, a trading crossroads to half the known world.  Welcome, to Zanzibar Trading Company & Zanzibar Tribal Art Gallery located in Sacramento, California.  This website is primarily an information website, to purchase online, visit www.Zanzibar-Trading.com

 

 

Here at Zanzibar Trading Company, we traverse the world over to bring back to our clientele fantastic finds in fairly traded native handicrafts, tribal artifacts, African and Asian art, the finest sterling silver and semi-precious stone jewelry and exotic elements for your home and gift giving.  In addition to handicraft, we represent over two dozen published, museum collected and world famous artisans.

Our basic philosophy:  Better not cheaper, for the good of all people and the planet.  We're not your typical import store - we do carry handicraft but we also carry many world-class museum quality pieces of artwork from famous, published artisans as well.

Located in the heart of midtown Sacramento, at the corner of 18th and L Streets, Zanzibar's retail gallery offers over 9,000 fairly traded items from over 100 countries!...only a fraction of which is online.

We particularly pride ourselves in our dedication to authenticity, fair trade, and the very highest quality merchandise possible.  From Africa to India, Papua New Guinea to Peru, our gallery offers a virtual market bazaar.  All of our pieces are hand-picked, with as many purchased directly from the artisans as possible.  No child labor, no factory produced pieces - ever!

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WHAT IS FAIR TRADE?

Zanzibar, Sacramento's premier FAIR TRADE IMPORT store & gallery is dedicated to only carrying sustainably produced and fairly traded items.  To learn more, visit our pages on what is fair trade?

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FEATURED PRODUCTS

& NEW SHIPMENTS

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Original Jewelry by northern California artist

Bob (Robert) Burkett

NEW SHIPMENT June 29th

click on photo and scroll to bottom to see NEW pieces!

The above pieces (and more at our gallery) are crafted in the Japanese Shibuichi technique (using a lost wax casting technique where 1/5th silver and 4/5ths copper is used to produce amazingly fine details).  Bob is a world-recognized jewelry maker and is considered "the number one bead maker in the USA".  Highly collectable, his pieces are versatile and affordable while being unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Learn more:  Bob Burkett original jewelry

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Oaxacan Woodcarvings

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Mexican Day of the Dead Figures

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Baltic Amber from Poland

a huge shipment of earrings, bracelets, pendants, necklaces and more!

amber bead necklaces and bracelets

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Talavera Pottery from Mexico including Frogs & Lizards for your wall or fence!

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Recycled Glass Hearts from Ghana, Africa

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Kenyan Soapstone

after months of waiting (because of challenges getting anything out of Kenya) we've received a large shipment of Kenyan Soapstone animals, boxes & hearts, plus woodcarvings, beaded animals and many other items!

 

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Roman Glass Israeli Jewelry

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Ethiopian Baskets

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Moroccan Leather Coin Purses

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WOOL SHAWLS*
 

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TIN ANIMALS FROM ZIMBABWE

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RECYCLED MAGAZINE & CALENDAR BEAD NECKLACES

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ONE-OF-A-KIND BEADED ANIMALS
from Monkeybiz cooperative in South Africa

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Shona Sculpture from Zimbabwe

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Day of the Dead Figures from Mexico

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Recycled Wire Earrings from Kenya

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Hand Woven Shawls from India

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RECYCLED FLIP FLOP ANIMALS

FROM KENYA

  

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Alpaca Scarves from Peru

 

These incredibly soft scarves are so soft!  Visit our gallery for the best selection.  Assorted colors.

Hand knit or woven by a small family workshop in Peru. Made of 100% Alpaca Wool. Alpacas are shorn like sheep and not harmed.

The Alpaca is a domesticated camelid that are kept in herds that graze high in the Andes of Peru at an altitude of 11,000 to 16,000 ft. Alpacas are smaller than llamas, and are not used as beasts of burden but are valued only for their soft fiber.

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ALL CELADON TEAPOTS ARE 40% OFF

LIMITED TO STOCK ON HAND

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Indian Jewelry!

lots of pendants, earrings & bracelets!

RARE Gaspeite, Kyanite and other stones!

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Retablos by the Jimenez Family

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Evil Eye pendants, bracelets & wall hangings from Turkey

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Safari Babies

hand knit animals made by a women's group in Kenya

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Korean Celadon Pottery

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Bronze Statuary from India

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Beaded Animals from Kenya

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Antique Tibetan Singing Bowls

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Carved Soapstone & Verdite Boxes from Vietnam

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Australian OPAL JEWELRY

Zanzibar is proud to offer one of Sacramento's largest selections of Australian Opal Jewelry.  We just received our largest shipment EVER of fantastic NATURAL spectacular Opal Pendants, Earrings and Bracelets.  Set in sterling silver and gold, these one of a kind beauties are all hand picked by us.  Affordable earrings starting at only $40 and up!  Pendants in the $50 range and up!

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One of a kind Jewelry

  

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Peruvian & Nicaraguan Pottery

Chulucanas pottery women with chilis or flowers.

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Handmade Ceramics from Africa

African Bottle cap Key chains

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Coconut Masks from Mexico

Animals, fruits, suns, mermaids and much more created using coconuts, seed pods, clay and paint.  From two family workshops in Guerrero State in Mexico. 

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Nichos from Mexico

above:  "God created kissing - the Devil created the rest"

& "I'm no virgin, but I perform miracles"

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Baltic Amber Jewelry from Poland

 

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Contemporary Nepalese Singing Bowls

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Hand woven Merino wool & viscose shawls & scarves from India

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Original clay figures by Jose Juan Garcia Aguilar (son of Josefina)

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NEW STOCK STAND SIZES!

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Unique Ethnographic Horns, Shells, Pigs Tusk Ornaments & Currency from Oceania

  

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Hand painted Pottery from Poland, this Polish Pottery is functional

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Hand printed silk scarves from Turkey

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Touchstone Pendants from New Zealand

one of a kind, hand carved pendants from New Zealand that benefit Maori beach and waterway conservation & restoration programs.  Visit our gallery to choose yours!

Nichos from Mexico

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FAIRLY TRADED JEWELRY

Zanzibar offers one of the largest selections of fine quality, handmade and fairly traded semi-precious gem, Baltic amber opal and sterling silver jewelry collections in northern California.  Earrings, bracelets, necklaces, pendants and chains - visit our Sacramento Gallery for an ever-changing selection.  From under $10 to over $4,000.00 we have just a huge selection.

Baltic Amber, Garnet, Moonstone, Labrodorite, Citrine, Carnelian, Peridot, Amethyst, Opal, Onyx, Tourmaline, Blue & Lemon Topaz, Pearls, Turquoise, Coral, Kyanite, multi-colored sapphires, emeralds, rubies, Australian Opals and many other difficult to find stones.  Rough cut yellow diamond bangles and wedding jewelry.  We also carry a large selection of tribal and vintage and antique tribal jewelry. 

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 MICRO LOAN PROGRAMS

Here at Zanzibar, we work with dozens of small, family run businesses, cooperatives, women's groups and individuals in third world countries.

One of the projects we have promoted is the use of "micro loans" - small loans (sometimes just a few hundred dollars) that we advance or distribute to artisans, interest free. We currently have a 99.7% payback rate.  Currently, we underwrite all of our loans in house, however we've had many clients ask "how can I help?"  Well, besides buying fairly traded products and handicrafts from our store, There's a way you can help:

KIVA is an internet non-profit group that allows you to make loans (as little as $25) to the struggling, third-world business of your choice - it's NOT a donation - it's a loan and you will be paid back! ... and you can take the money back or reinvest it into another business. Check out their site!

www.KIVA.ORG

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WHAT IS FAIR TRADE?

Zanzibar is dedicated to only carrying sustainably produced and fairly traded items.  To learn more, visit our pages on what is fair trade?

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BILL CLINTON ON FAIR TRADE

Did you catch Bill Clinton talking to Martha Stewart about Fair Trade?  Click on the photo below to watch it!

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Want to purchase online via our secure shopping cart?

Visit our retail website at: 

Sacramento Fair Trade Store

OR CLICK ON PRODUCTS TO THE UPPER LEFT OF THIS PAGE

While what we offer online is only a TINY fraction of what we sell, you can get a good idea of the quality and variety we offer by going to this website.  You may also wish to visit our photo gallery to see pictures of our gallery. 

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Mexican Tin Nichos

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Helping Preserve the last 700 Mountain Gorillas in Africa

Zanzibar has teamed up with the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) to help preserve the LAST 700 Mountain Gorillas.  Visit our gallery to purchase hand carved wooden gorillas, bowls, boxes and hand woven baskets from Uganda and Rwanda - with 100% of the profit being donated to the IGCP.  Click here for more info!

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 We've just acquired a large private collection of spectacular old Dan Masks from Africa - shown by appointment

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Sapphires, Emeralds & Rubies!

We've just received a shipment of our hand-picked exceptional quality, all-natural (no heat treating, color enhancements or irradiation) Sapphires, Multi-colored sapphires, Black Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies and Tourmaline Necklaces, earrings and Jewelry.  Shown by appointment.

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New Ireland / New Britain Papua New Guinea Funeral Masks & Fire Masks

including Baining (aka Baning, Banning, Bining) Fire Masks, Malanggan (aka Malangan) Tatanua Funeral masks

We've acquired a large private collection of these incredibly rare and not-often seen regalia and masks. 

shown by appointment only

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Why did we name our gallery Zanzibar?

Good question.  Zanzibar is actually an island off the east coast of Africa and the country of Tanzania which it is officially a part of.  Today Zanzibar (and its northern island neighbor, Pemba) are known for tourism and beaches as well as its old stone town. 

For thousands of years Zanzibar has been a trading center for spices, wood, dried fish, salt - just about everything you can imagine.  Arabs, Persians, West Indians, Chinese and even Europeans (Portuguese especially) have traded here for hundreds of years.  While the spices, especially cloves, were locally grown, most of the other items traded for were from other places.  The coastal Swahili language, in part a trading language, evolved here. 

Thus Zanzibar was more of a trading Mecca - where one could find things from many different lands - thus we named our gallery Zanzibar since we currently have items from over 90 different countries (and while we have stuff from Tanzania, we don't actually have anything from Zanzibar!)

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FEATURED ARTISAN

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semi-precious stone jewelry, nativities and crèches, day of the dead figures, dia de los muertos skulls and altars, Jimenez retablos, Mexican Catrina skeletons, African masks, recycled silk yarns, custom Egyptian cartouches, African Ghana Bolga Baskets, , South African Zulu Baskets Tingsha, Mudcloth and other African textiles, pampering personal care products, stock mask stands, and custom mask stands, wood print blocks, Talavera Pottery from Mexico.

You can also visit our sister websites (both works in progress):

For Indian Print blocks : www.woodprintblocks.com

For collector & museum quality African masks:  www.kinyago.com

 

MEDIA & ARTICLES

SEE OUR FEATURED JEWELRY IN sierrastyle's

 

As of May 2008 this necklace is available - call or visit our gallery for more information!

 

 

Zanzibar Tribal Art Gallery

1731 L Street (corner 18th & L)
Midtown Sacramento CA 95814

(916) 443-2057 voice

(916) 443-5601 fax

 

June's Birthstone MOONSTONE or PEARL JEWELRY

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Talavera Pottery from Mexico, including planters, ginger jars, plates, platters, sinks, lizards, animals & pitchers

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Mexican Tin Hearts & Nichos

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hand carved wooden gorillas from Uganda

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Paper Mache Skeletons by Andres:  Jose Andres Chavez Morales

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We're proud to offer one of Sacramento's largest selections of Australian Opal Jewelry  - October's Birthstone is Opal

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Dias de los Muertos  "the Day of the Dead" Skulls, Skeletons,Figures, Retablos & Catrinas

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Beaded Animals from Africa including Kenya and South Africa

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Nichos & Other Mexican Folk Art

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African Masks, Framed Tribal Art, Kuba Cloth Skirt, Zulu Hat

Visit our retail Gallery

Thai Gold Leaf Buddha Statues
View photos of our gallery by clicking
here!

Philippine artifacts, African doors, African stools, African dolls & figures, shields, gourds

Gold leaf buddha panels, Korean celadon pottery, tibetan singing bowls, torans, dolls, nativities

View more photos of our African & Tribal Art store in our

photo gallery

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Adinkra Stamps african symbols from Ghana
Adinkra Stamps from Ghana, Africa

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Ostrich Shell Bracelets crafted by the Bushmen (San) people

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Meet our knitters who make our recycled silk scarves & learn how our recycled silk yarn is hand crafted

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Original Jewelry by Israeli Artisans from Kibbutz Beit-Nir

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Sustainably harvested Olivewood Bowls

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Hearts

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Tibetan Singing Bowls

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Vietnamese Carved Stone Boxes

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Dias de los Muertos  "the Day of the Dead" Skulls, Figures, Retablos & Catrinas

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Neolithic arrowheads, spear points & tools

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Bobo hornbill mask with chameleon from Burkina Faso

African Masks

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Josefina Aguilar Clay Figures from Oaxaca

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Mexican Sugar Skull Molds in Sacramento

Mexican Sugar Skull Molds & Making Sugar Skulls for Days of the Dead

We offer classes in Sacramento on how to make Sugar Skulls using Sugar Skull molds each October

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African Textiles & Mudcloth

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Olivewood Hearts

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Wooden Print Blocks from India, Nepal, & Indonesia.  These wood stamps are great for paper, fabric, wallpaper, textile and clay and ceramic printing or impressing

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Hand carved Wood Salad Server Sets

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Mexican Tin & Metal Retablos & Ex-votos Icon Paintings

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African & Tribal Jewelry

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Recycled Glass Hearts

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Nicaraguan Pottery from the village of San Juan de Oriente

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Holiday Nativities & Christmas Ornaments from around the World

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Finest Quality Tibetan, Nepalese & Indian Tingsha Hand Cymbals and Chimes

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Wounaan and Embera baskets from the rainforests of Panama

Sustainably harvested Ironwood carvings from Mexico

Putumayo Music CD's

Hand carved boxwood ojime, netsuke & Inro Boxes

Pacifica brand candles

Nepalese & Indian Bronze & Copper Lost Wax Gold Gilded Statuary

South African Zulu Telephone Wire Baskets

Original Jewelry by northern California artist Bob (Robert) Burkett

Tongan Plateau Winnowing Baskets from Zimbabwe & Zambia, Africa

Peruvian Chulucanas Pottery

Little Chanchitos Handmade Clay pigs with three legs from Chile

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Asian Teapots, Tea Sets, Tea Cups & Sake Sets from Japan, Korea & China in ceramic and wrought iron

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Nag Champa Incense

Pre de Provence European French Milled Soaps, Hand Creams & Shea Butter products

Shiva Lingham Stones

Tibetan Buddhist Ritual Items including Phurbas, Bells, Dorjes, and Tantric items

African & Tribal Beaded Jewelry

Chinese Terracotta Warriors

Korean Hand Painted Scrolls & Screens

Ugandan African Baskets

Coconut Masks from Mexico

Mexican Milagros "Miracles"

Gorky Gonzalez Majolica Pottery

Mexican Dance Masks

Hmong Embroidered Teddy Bears

Mexican Devil/Diablo Masks

Stone Statuary, Buddha & Kwan Yin Heads

 

 

 

 

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HOW TO FIND OUR GALLERY

Gallery Hours:

Mon-Fri 11am-6pm

Sat 10am - 6pm

Sun 10am - 3pm

2nd Sat 10am - 9/10pm*

*if it's slow we sometimes close early

 Private Appointments Available - ask!

GET A MAP OR DIRECTIONS TO OUR GALLERY

visit our retail website:

Sacramento African art, Jewelry & Import Store

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Zanzibar was voted one of the best places in Sacramento to buy art in Sacramento Magazine's 2008 BEST OF SACRAMENTO

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FEATURED PRODUCTS

Sacramento's largest selection of Baltic Amber Jewelry including Amber earrings, Amber pendants, & Amber Necklaces from Poland, Lithuania and the Ukraine

Korean Celadon Pottery

Tibetan Prayer Flags

Semi Precious Stone & Sterling Silver Jewelry

South African Zulu ilala palm Baskets

South African Zulu Telephone Wire Baskets

Hand woven Indian Jamavar Jacquard Loomed Shawls from Rajasthan & Kashmir

Soapstone from Kenya

Semi Precious Gem and Baltic Amber Jewelry

Fairly Traded Jewelry Sacramento's largest selection of:  Amber, Amethyst, Carnelian, Citrine, Coral, Garnet, Kyanite, Labradorite, Moonstone, Onyx, Opals, Pearl, Peridot, Rubies, Sterling Silver, Topaz, Turquoise and other semi-precious stone jewelry

Custom Egyptian Cartouche Pendants in Sterling Silver and Gold direct from Egypt with your name!

Stock & Custom Metal Mask Stands, Stand for African Masks

Retablo figures by the Jimenez family of Peru

Australian Opal Jewelry

Korean Celadon

Claudio Jimenez Quispe

Retablos from Peru

Bronze Statuary from India, Nepal Thailand & Tibet. Largest selection of the finest quality Hindu and Buddhist Bronze God & Goddess Statues in Sacramento.  Bronze Statues of Buddha, Laxmi, Ganesh, Hanuman, Quan Yin and many others. 

Nippon Kodo brand Japanese fine Incense

Om Plaques

Oaxacan Wood carvings and paper mache

sustainably harvested decorative Capiz shell lotus tea light burners

Votivo Candles including Red Currant

Himalayan Quartz Crystal Buddhas, Stupas, Dorjes, Phurbas, Ganesh & Linghams

Recycled Silk Scarves, Silk Scarves, Wool Shawls, Indian Wedding Shawls & Saris, Cotton scarves

For the person who has everything - hand crafted & blown glass earth globes by Lundberg studios

African cloth dolls & Fertility dolls

Safari Babies - Hand Knit Woven Animals from Kenya, Africa

Soapstone Hearts from Kenya

Hand painted South African Taper Candles

Tagua Nut Carvings from Ecuador

Amazing Mexican Folkart by Tomas Castillo

Colombian Saints & Marys

African, Papua New Guinea & Other Tribal Shields, Spears, Arrows and Weapons

Recycled tin art

Contemporary Tang Dynasty Horses

Pacifica Brand Soaps

Guatemalan Masks

Museum Quality Tagua Nut Carvings from Panama

Adhesive Indian Bindis

Mexican Huichol Beaded Jaguar Heads, Bowls & Figures

Turquoise Jewelry

Nepalese Wooden Masks featuring Snow Lions, Garuda, Buddhas, Ganesh, Birab, protective demons  & more!

Tetsubin Japanese Cast Iron & Ceramic Teapots & Tea Kettles

Mexican Papel Picado - tissue paper banners from Mexico - Sacramento's Largest selection!

Hand carved Rosewood Bases & Trivets

Seasonally we offer live orchid plants in bloom

Did you see the Sacramento Bee article that featured our business?  Click here to read the article

Sacramento importers feel sting of global economy

Zanzibar Trading is proud to be sponsors of:

RICKY

 

Buddha Face Panels from Thailand

 

January's Birthstone
GARNET JEWELRY

 

February's Birthstone AMETHYST JEWELRY

March's Birthstone AQUAMARINE JEWELRY