Lampwork, Antique Venetian Trade Beads, Set of 3 Lewis and Clark Beads
SKU: AFE-1646
Sale price
$69.00
Shipping calculated at checkout
Only 1 in stock
Description
- These beads are priced and sold by the set of 3
- Antique Venetian lampworked trade beads known as Lewis & Clark beads
- Beads measure 24-28mm long and are in excellent condition except one has a chip at one end where it also appears the glass might have cooled to quickly after the winding was finished
- First I want to clarify that this type of bead is not what Lewis and Clark carried across North America. First of all the 33 pounds of beads they carried were mostly small beads. For indigenous people making tiny beads was much more difficult than making big beads and colors where scarce among the materials they used so what we call glass seed beads today were in great demand.
- Second the beads we know as Lewis and Clark will not made until decades after the 1804-1806 expedition.
- None of this detracts, however, from the fact that these are well known and well loved beads
- It's also important to know that there are imitations of these beads on the market and some of them are quite good. That's fine as long as they aren't misrepresented as antique. If the price seems too good to be true it almost certainly is.
- Made in Venice, for the African trade and possibly Asia as well late 1800s