Antique Roman or Islamic Beads from the African Trade, Blue and Green, Set of 3
SKU: AFE-1411
Sale price
$65.00
Shipping calculated at checkout
Only 1 in stock
Description
- These beads are priced and sold by the set of 3
- Three Roman or Islamic, glass beads of the type that used to be found on strands of trade beads in the 1960s. Blue base with eye designs & green wound with white
- Larger round bead 13x14mm, cylinder 18x10mm
- The eye design and the color blue have been a perennial favorites through the ages. The green is much more rare.
- Roman glass dates from 1st to 5th century AD, while Islamic glass is from 7th to 15th century AD, at which time the Venetians began dominating the bead trade.
- Rome ruled the coast of North Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic ocean from about 150 BC until about 500 AD so it's not surprising that a few Roman beads would be mixed into the early strands of Venetian trade beads, the first of which came to the US from Morocco in the 1960s.
- Not long after the Romans decamped from northern Africa, Islam began streaming across the Sahara with traders and warriors who also carried the faith, and beads.