Lovely strand of antique Dutch Padre beads made between the 1600-1800 and traded widely in Africa, to the Americas, and into Asia via the trans-Pacific trade routes from Mexico to the Philippines and beyond.
They became especially popular in the America southwest and southern California, where Spanish "padres" used them to entice the indigenous population to convert to Catholicism.
These beads have holes large enough for leather, a nice aged patina, and quite regular oblate shapes. Good quality strands are increasingly hard to find. This one came form my "basement hoard" of beads that hadn't been opened for 20 years.
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