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African Trade Beads are among the hottest collectibles in the world today. They have become very popular and form the basis for a fast growing number of bead collections. More and more people are starting to collect beads every day. The wonder of beads - their infinite variety and the stories behind them - are catching on and fueling a boom. To understand African Trade Beads and why their story is so fascinating to so many people, we need to look briefly at the background of trade and the bead trade in Africa, especially West Africa, which provides most of these beads to the American market. - Peter Francis, Jr., Former Director of the The Center for Bead Research. |
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Bead shape of two cones joined at the bases.
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Multiple layers of different colored glass laid down in corrugated layers so as to form a starburst pattern when viewed on end. |
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The technique of decoration by enameling in which a design is outlined on a metal plate with bent wire or metal strips of rectangular-section wire that are affixed edgewise to the metal base and the spaces filled in with the colored enamel that are then fused. |
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A bead with a dot, circle or circle/dot mimicking an eye and intended to avert the evil eye. Perhaps the most common of amulets. |
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Imitation pearls made from glass that have the look and feel of genuine pearls. Some faux pearls are made from plastic. |
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Pearls from freshwater sources. Because pearls are organic, they will vary in size, shape and color. |
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Carat gold on base metal. |
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A gemstone that is massive, typically of a deep-blue color but sometimes with mottling of white. It is a complex mineral, composed of grains of several blue minerals. It is sometimes spangled with inclusions of brassy-colored pyrites. It is dull except when it is given a polished surface. - Dictionary of Jewelry by Harold Dewman. |
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A mineral with alternate irregular bands of light and dark green. |
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Italian for "1000 flowers." Decoration consisting of slices of multicolored glass rods (canes), usually pressed smooth (marvered), while hot into the surface of a core piece of glass. |
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"Semi precious stones have been crafted into beads since early civilization. Formed when minerals were caught in cooling rock and created veins, they are extracted from the rock by mining. Semiprecious stones have been assigned to birth months, used as amulets and traded as currency as well as being used as adornment in jewelry." - The Book of Beads by Janet Coles and Robert Budwig. |
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Glass beads made in a mold to look like snake vertebra. |
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Swarovski crystal is named for the man who developed a machine to cut glass, which was formerly cut by hand. Swarovski was born in 1862 in Bohemia. Swarovski-cut, Austrian crystals are considered the world's best. |
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No doubt a coincidence, but a form of a Chevron bead that just happens to have a strikingly similar color pattern as a watermelon. |
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A bead made of two layers; the inside layer being white, and the outside usually red, orange, or pink. Despite the name, the shapes are usually torus or cylindrical, and most are antique. |
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