Trade Beads- Antique Millefiori

Trade Beads- Antique Millefiori

This Antique Millefiori Trade Bead Strand Lot comes with approximately 86 beads. They measure about 10 mm or smaller in length with 3 mm holes. The beads feature an assortment of  classic Millefiori patterns in red, green, white,  yellow, and blue.  They come strung on natural fiber twine.

One of a Kind!

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Venetian Millefiori Beads are one of several types of beads that we call Trade Beads. European traders often brought these beads to Africa, but they made their way to the Americas as well. Factories in Venice produced these beads beginning in the early 1800s. Artisans used canes of glass to create flowers and stripe designs. Then they molded layers of these designs around a core of solid colored glass. They then cut or broke these glass rods into beads. The result is a colorful mix of designs called Venetian Millefiori beads. Millefiori means “thousand flowers” in Italian.

History of Trade Beads

From the 15th to the 20th century, traders carried European glass beads across the world. Native Americans highly desired glass beads as glass was then an unknown substance in North American. European glass beads, mostly from Venice, some from Holland and, later, from Poland and Czechoslovakia, became popular and sought after by Native Americans. Europeans realized early on that beads were important to Native Americans. Corporations such as the Hudson Bay Trading Company developed lucrative bead-trading markets with them. The Hudson Bay Trading Company was an organized group of explorers who ventured into the North American continent for trade expeditions during the 19th century.

Read about the History of Trade Beads!

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