Do you enjoy wearing antique jewelry pieces? Do you like to think about the lives of those who wore them before? Wearing African trade beads sends you back to a time when tribal societies did not need money to richly adorn themselves.
Instead, Africans traded commodities, such as gold and ivory, in exchange for colorful glass beads made mainly in Venice, Germany, and what is now the Czech Republic, expressly for the African trade, which lasted from roughly the 1600s to 1950. Then European colonizers left, African countries formed their own governments, and minted currency replaced beads as a means of exchange.
Today, African beads are collected and appreciated all over the world. My favorites show some signs of popular wear and age.
The large, green bi-cone beads in this necklace are called King beads because they were favored by tribal chiefs and were traded for gold. They were made by Venetian artists, using a flame to wind molten glass onto a metal rod. The black striped beads were formed by similar methods. Both date roughly to the mid 1800s. The yellow disk beads from the Czech region are much younger—perhaps mid 20th century. The small dark beads at the ends of the necklace arrived from Europe shiny and bright. Some tribal bead distributors placed the beads in a metal cauldron and heated them to achieve their current dusky color. I also incorporated contemporary bi-cone coconut beads, since that is a material traditionally used in tribal made beads.
I hope you enjoy all of the history flowing through this necklace. To learn more, I recommend The History of beads, by Lois Shere Dubin and Africa Adorned by Angela Fisher.
Product code: Antique African popular Trade Beads Necklace