Millefiori Antique Venetian Trade Beads, Collector Set, Bear Paw Design in 2 Shapes, Set of 2
SKU: AFE-1927
Sale price
$15.00
Shipping calculated at checkout
Out of stock
Description
- These beads are priced and sold as a set of 2
- Early antique Venetian millefiori trade beads with just a few murrine, or possibly multi-layer striped seed beads inset into off white glass. This set is particularly unusual for the rare "olive" shape.
- The patterns of the cane slices are particularly crisp in the larger beads and you can see now the bead got it's name, the white stripes looking like claws...
- The pattern of this bead was given the "campfire" name "Bear Paw" or Bearclaw, by early fur trappers and hunters in the Canadian and US west who bought pelts from Indians for beads and other trade goods obtained from the Hudson Bay Company
- These beads are quite early examples of the use of mosaic canes or millefiori slices known as murrine. The cores were off white before they became standardized as black or very dark blue and the murrine were used as accents, rather than covering the whole bead as was done later.