Set of 8 black antique, vintage and new Bohemian molded glass "lightbulb" beads from Mali wedding bead strands. Two 24mm size, one 17mm, four 14mm and one long skinny black center drilled black teardrop bead
Made in Bohemia (now Czech Republic) during the 1850s to early 1900s
Traded to Africa, where they became especially popular among the Fulani of Mali.
I've heard two stories about why they are called Wedding beads: a) they are passed from mother to daughter at the latter's marriage, b) they are worn by drummers who perform at Fulani weddings.
These days as the beads keep rising in price, women more often wear just a few in their braided hair, or on simple necklaces with just 3-5 beads.
Bohemian workshops and factories continued making a limited range of beads for the European market between the world wars. Soviet overlords strictly controlled production and export until the Czech Republic broke free in 1993. At that point individual factories began making new designs, reviving some old ones and looking for new markets, mostly in the West. Recently they've had a very tough time competing against the Chinese who have flooded the developing world with their cheap glass beads.
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