A Glass Trade Bead By Any Other Name.....

[OntarioArch]

How are we to discuss Glass Trade Beads when their names are so variable? Some Common Names from recent discussion boards and auctions include:
Roman Inlaid, Flush Eye, Rattlesnake, Blue Stars, Blue Football, Redwoods, Red Straw, Bumblebee, Skunk Eye, Tac, Russian Blue, Pony Beads.
They are often simply named by Size, Shape, and/or Color: white seed; round; oval; faceted; football; chevron; polychrome, straw, black with red stripes; tubular, conical, cane, white cane, red straw, black tubular, etc.

I believe these four names have been used to refer to the same bead:
‘brick red with green center’
‘redwood with green center’
‘multilayered Venetian bead: cornaline d’Aleppo’
[from Kidd/Karlin taxonomic system] "IVa6 (YF-146). Circular; op. brick red (7.5R 3/8) exterior; tsp. apple green (10GY 6/6) core; late 18th/19th centuries."

A complicated area of NA collecting, for sure. Here are a few glass trade beads I have not shown here before.

 

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[southfork]

A lot of localized names by collectors I have thousands . I call them Indian trade beads because of where found .

 

[metrotec]

Mine also, Indian trade beads, Cherokee Villages on creeks and Rivers.

 

[monsterrack]

Beads can be a tricky subject, like what most call large Chevron beads the books call them Rosetta beads. Just to study the European bead industries can run you down a rabbit hole. The best thing that I do document where they came from and use the local name. It is a kind of detective work to retrace the history of European glass beads something that I am addictive to.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

So on the subject of these beads...were they trade beads as in cheap trinkets brought over by Europeans...or are we talking handmade prized beads made from exotic materials that were traded among the Native Americans?

Either way they are fascinating and not exactly easy to find these days. I’ve yet to find any beads in the areas I’ve been eyeballing. Today was chert flakes and a very small Knarly chert core.

 

[smokeythecat]

The ones I have seen have been brought over by Europeans to trade to the natives. I have beads from my area and areas of the northeast I have personally been to, at least for a visit.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

The ones I have seen have been brought over by Europeans to trade to the natives. I have beads from my area and areas of the northeast I have personally been to, at least for a visit.

I see.. “glass trade beads”...duh!

Some of the beads Southfork showed looked like they could have been made from natural stone.

 

[OntarioArch]

Those black and white beads with white squiggly lines commonly called Rattlesnakes: "Rattlesnake" type beads are shown in a timeline chart in The History of Beads, by Dubin. The author shows them as being produced in 1700's to early 1800's in The Netherlands, and simply describes them as "wound glass with trailing decoration." The white glass material is obviously embedded INTO the black glass, not applied to the surface. I think the two glasses were melded together while hot.

My photos put to rest, I would say, any thought of the white lines being painted onto ANCIENT, authentic beads, as asserted here: https://peachstatearchaeologicalsoci...of-trade-beads

My 'rattlesnake' beads just left my 'extras' box and joined my bookshelf display items!

 

[smokeythecat]

I bought a huge book on bead identification but the illustrations were so small it was useless to me.

 

[monsterrack]

So on the subject of these beads...were they trade beads as in cheap trinkets brought over by Europeans...or are we talking handmade prized beads made from exotic materials that were traded among the Native Americans?

Either way they are fascinating and not exactly easy to find these days. I’ve yet to find any beads in the areas I’ve been eyeballing. Today was chert flakes and a very small Knarly chert core.

Trade beads were made of glass with different colors and different designs. They were made all over Europe but mostly in central Europe. They were cheap to the European traders, a good bead maker could make 30,000 beads a day per person.

 

[Fat]

I bought a huge book on bead identification but the illustrations were so small it was useless to me.

You can never have too much fire starter or wiping kind. I think I know that book exactly.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Here's a few of the Glass Trade Beads I have acquired for my states collection.

The first tray is from California. The four surrounding the Pendant are Shell. The rest are Glass.

The second tray is from Colorado. The bottom Bead is Shell and the rest are Glass Pony Beads.

The ones around the Point are all Nevada. All Glass except for the top Olivella.

 

[smokeythecat]

Fat, I gave the book to a digging friend. More $$$ I wasted on the original purchase.

 

[dirstscratcher]

This is a small section of a headband covered in beads. It came with a dress with fringed arms and hem and every fringe is beaded. I believe the dress dates to the latter half of the 19'th century. I don't know the dates of the various beads, but I suspect 19'th century as well.