Collector set of 5 large antique Bohemian molded amber color glass beads and 9 smaller new Czech glass amber color beads.
The antique beads are uniform in color and in include a pair of gem-life super faceted beads 30x13mm, 1 six-sided oval 28mm, 1 faceted bicone and one 12mm oblate bead with pairs of lines engraved into its sides.
The new Czech beads include all the shades between very light and very dark amber color in a wide variety of shapes.
From the mid-1800s to early 1900s many European countries were competing (by fair means and foul) for a share of the African bead trade. Stealing trade secrets, luring away master glassworkers, and imitating beads were some of the milder methods.
Only one set like this available
Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic) was a prolific maker and exporter of glass beads for the African trade from the 1850 to about 1900.
The industry continued to produce a more limited range glass beads and ornaments between the world wars, mostly for the European market. Factory production quotas and exports we tightly controlled until the Czech Republic left the Soviet Union in 1993. At that point individual workshops and small factories started developing new styles, reviving old ones, and looking for new markets in the USA and Asia.
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