Antique African Trade Beads in a Necklace with Large Rare Tabular Venetian Millefiori, Awale, Russian Blues, and Blue Antique Bohemian Round spacers.
This one-of-a-kind 25.5" long necklace is made of African Trade glass beads. It combines rare large purple and blue millefiori beads, Russian blues, small round blue antique Bohemian glass spacers, and small Awale sliced disk spacers.
The trade beads used in this necklace are old, dating to the late 1800s - early 1900s. They come from across Europe and are a piece of the fascinating history of the trade beads in Europe.
The large tabular millefiori hexagonal beads (around 23x25 mm) are rare large beads made in Venice in the early 1900s for the African trade. These are in excellent condition. The small disk-shaped Awale beads resemble chevrons but are not made with multiple layers. The ones used in this necklace are slices 3-5 mm long and 8mm in diameter. They date from the late 1800 to the early 1900s. The beautiful dark cornflower blue cylindrical Russian blues beads are of similar age (approx. 5.5 x 9.5 mm). They are of Bohemian or German origin, but were traded to Alaska by the Russian fur traders (hence the name). And finally, the small Bohemian blue glass spacers were produced in Bohemia (now Czechoslovakia) for the African trade. The clasp is sterling silver.
Please note that the beads are old and have traveled from afar. There are some nicks and chips and shape irregularities are expected, although the beads are generally in excellent condition for their age.
