Until recently beads were under-researched. Even today in the UK,
antique markets, necklaces and single beads still turn up in bargain
boxes at cheap prices, whether glass, plastic, semiprecious stones - in
fact almost anything that can have a threadable hole - or ethnic
jewellery, holiday souvenirs or lavish carnival costume accessories.
Throughout history, beads have shown prestige and wealth in their roles
as trade goods, heirlooms and dowry, markers of tribal loyalty, prayer
aids, magic talismans, love tokens and signs of status in life. Beads
reveal the most amazing skills and give us an idea of the things we
value enough to copy in miniature. They continue to display astonishing
ingenuity - they are made of almost every possible material. Handmade or
mass-produced glass, stone, ceramic, bone, shell, coral, amber, jet,
cast or handwrought metals; found objects; constructed with tiny beads
stitched together or woven in traditional patterns: each piece leads to
new discoveries. This book helps you explore the origins of many of your
treasures, whatever types of bead you collect, covering a wide range of
categories such as 'eye beads', Millefiori Trade Beads found in the
1960s, exotic tropical seeds necklaces, carved nuts, Art Deco chokers,
real or reproduction Egyptian Mummy beads, Tibetan stone Zi beads with
applied designs, rosaries and prayer beads or even the antique beads
found on traditional English lace bobbins!
