Very large blue elbow bead composed of tri-color (green/amber/brick) murrini core surrounded by blue and white chevron patterns. 54x14mm
Unfortunately there's a bad chip at one end which brings the price down
The second image shows the damage
If you have a friend with a lapidary saw you can cut off the small broken part
I've salvaged many chipped trade beads that way over the years
Trade beads almost always have holes big enough for 2mm leather cords
Millefiori, the Italian name for these colorful beads, means 1000 flowers
The beads are decorated with slices of glass canes created either, by bundling super thin glass rods together to form the pattern then fusing them, or encasing round or star pattern canes in concentric layers of different colored glass.
The canes are sliced into murrini, which are laid out on a hot surface as 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
Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection.
