A digital archive showcasing the extensive collection of jewellery and adornment images shared on the former Ethnic Jewels Ning site over the years. These images have significantly enriched discussions on cultural adornment and its global dispersion.
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the pale round and disc beads appear to me to be bone, made recently in India, and the millefiori cylinders resemble handmade indian furnace-wound beads which have large holes and have been capped with typical indian brass rounded caps. Did you find it in Czech republic?
I buy jewelry from people here in the US. I looked in a book on beads and found the exact ones as these listed as 19th century bohemian. I am familiar when objects have age and these are definitely old. I think you are correct as to the white ones being bone. I know I fall in love with these objects but you have to admit it is beautiful.
I wonder which book you consulted!!
Are you able to look at the holes in any of the decorated glass beads? if they are Bohemian then the holes would be quite small.
if they are Indian beads as i suspect then the holes would be large enough to take leather thong, and have an irregular black surface on the inside.
It was The History of Beads by Dubin; page 111. As far as the size of the holes go, smaller than a pea, how about the size of a drink box straw?
On p. 111 in the original Dubin History of Beads, and in the new revised edition, there are no pictures, although that is the page where the text on Bohemian beads begins.
I am reasonably sure these cylindrical beads with drinking straw size holes are typical 20th c. Indian glass beads furnace-wound by hand, with added fragments of indian style Millefiori cane slices melted on, but where and when they are made in no way stops them being attractive.
The pictures are on the next page; the discussion begins on page 111. The size of the holes on the beads in question are much smaller than a drinking straw (I have them as drink box straw size, which is much smaller) If you like a can post a picture of the hole and measure it. Do you have any European beads that we could compare with these to see if they are the same or different? That might clear it up.
I will offer one more piece of evidence in support of the necklace not being from India in the 20th century; no comparable pieces on ebay.
if they were Bohemian the holes would only be big enough for a needle.
on page 112 in Dubin the millefiori beads shown are 18-1900s Venetian, and have 2 characteristics i dont see on yours- the same millefiori elements are repeated evenly all over, and the surfaces are not shiny but slightly ground away. Maybe rather than relying on Ebay you should show them in the flesh to someone with a great deal more bead experience, and certainly there are many collectors and enthusiasts who are members of Bead Societies in various states in USA which you would surely find through google.
i have been collecting and researching beads since the 1970s have written 3 books on the subject, and used to run a shop in one of London's antique areas dealing in antique, vintage, ethnic and collectable beads, which i now do from a website: "www.treasurebeads.com"
you might also like to visit "beadcollector.net" a forum for any bead enthusiasts as well as specialists- its friendly and not at all intimidating...
learning about beads is exciting because the whole subject is still under-researched so new discoveries are continually coming to light as a result of our shared interest...
good luck with your further enquiries-
I appreciate your scholarship, and your willingness to share it.
You are right, there are two differences between the beadsshown and mine. But given the fact that different bead makers within a locale exhibit different characteristics and that Dubin devotes one page to the beads in question, the matter in my mind is still open.
Ebay is an example of crowdsourcing. You can see more beads there in an afternoon than in a year standing in a shop. I know this because I had an antique shop for 15 years and there I stood.
If the bead does not appear on Ebay at least we can agree it is rare. People in India know about ebay ; 19th century Venetians and Czechs a little less so
I will take your advice and show them to bead societies. Thank you again.
here are images of an example i have-
the bead is 3/4 inch (20mm) long and approx 1/2 inch (15mm) diameter, the hole is about 4mm wide.
