Antique drawn black seed beads with white stripes, partially worn away by generations of use, giving the beads a most subtle effect
4mm diameter on 23-inch strand (excludes raffia), only one available
Made in Venice 1800s, bought in Ivory Coast 1970s
Because the colors and patina match trade beads of the same vintage, antique seed beads are ideal spacers to use with them
New seed beads are less expensive than real antique or vintage ones. So they are now being exported in bulk to Africa to be strung like old ones, and sometimes they are even "antiqued" with dirt and other substances.
You can tell old seed beads from new ones because they are less regular in size and shape, often more flat than rounded at the ends, and they are never bright and shiny, nor uniformly matte like acid etched or sandblasted beads. Instead they develop a lovely smooth semi-matte patina.
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