I believe sellers such as the one with this offering of wood beads are trying to reach a certain audience, namely, the buyers who search the term "trade beads". Since "trade bead" is neither a scientific term nor an eBay-defined category, I don't have any problem with people using it loosely.
The seller has put these beads in the Collectibles - Beads - 1800 to 1950 category. I think this is a proper use of the eBay categories if the beads are in fact pre-1950.
But getting back to the term "trade bead". In my humble opinion, this term has "mostly" passed into popular usage as shorthand for "African trade bead", meaning glass (and some stone) beads made in Europe for trade into Africa, from roughly 1500 - 1950. However, the term also seems to be used for European beads traded to North & South America, and other parts of the world as well, although I have never heard anyone say "Chinese trade beads" and mean European beads sold into China. Possibly this is because the Chinese also made glass beads during the centuries that the Europeans were making glass beads, so it would be confusing to use the term for China.
Additionally, people seem to refer to pre-1950 beads made in Africa, such as the wide variety of metal, shell, wood, bone, etc. as well as glass beads like Bodom and kiffa, as trade beads. The emphasis on the term trade beads being linked with Africa is also seen in the use of the term for newly made beads originating from the African continent.
I think the emphasis on Africa when applying the term trade bead is based on the idea that I've seen quoted quite often, namely that the Africans (in general) used beads for money. This is not a concept I've seen advanced for other cultures around the world to any extent. Stories such as the island of Manhattan being traded for beads is another anecdote related to trade beads originating from Europe and being used for barter. It is interesting that "trade" has become so intricately connected to "bead". If the colonial era travelers had swapped pots or fabric to the New World or African residents, would we refer to them as "trade pots" or "trade fabrics"? One is left with the impression that a very large amount of trade was carried on with beads, but there again, I don't know the ratio of beads traded vs. other goods traded.
Also, I don't normally see the term applied to new beads from other parts of the world, for example, the brightly colored ceramic beads from Peru are not referred to as "Peruvian trade beads".
Global trading, in beads and other commodities, of course was going on long before 1500. Beads made in the Levant and Egypt were traded to other parts of Africa, Europe, Middle East, and beyond as one example. Beads made in India traveled extensively as well. Wasn't there a report a while back that beads dated before the Common Era were found in the mid-west of the United States? I have seen all such beads referred to as trade beads, although not as frequently or as exhaustively as beads associated with Africa.
So my conclusions are that the term "trade bead" is being used primarily for the following general categories of beads:
1) European-made beads traded around the world during the hey-day of European bead production of about 1500- 1950.
2) Beads traded to or made in Africa, of any age and from any material or source.
3) "Old beads" that are generally thought of as "collectible", including beads much older than 1500 that are assumed to have "traveled" and therefore were used for global trade.
These are just some ruminations for a Wednesday morning - and are observations, not an attempt to "enforce" anything concerning bead terminology - so hopefully more forumites will jump in and discuss further. And I hope people do not feel that they are afraid to post for fear of being "attacked". Just another hopeful observation on a sunny (and way too dry) California morning.
