Set of 4 smaller amber, brown and blue trade beads with brighter yellow
The bright yellow identifies these as later production, after 1900
Perfect for 2 pairs of earrings or bracelet/necklace
Trade beads generally have 2mm holes
Millefiori, the Italian name for these colorful beads, means 1000 flowers
The beads are decorated with slices of glass canes created either bundling very thin glass tubes together to form the pattern, then fusing them, or encasing round or chevron pattern canes in concentric layers of different colored glass.
The canes are sliced into murrini, which are laid out on a hot surface and the semi-molten glass cores of the beads are rolled over them, picking up the slices.
Made in Venice, Italy for the African trade mid-1800s to early 1900s
From the collection of Joyce Diamanti, bead researcher, writer and educator
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