Post: Post Reply: More Old German Beads by Beadman

Original Message: More Old German Beads

After seeing that some of you are interested in the Frankish beads I posted a few days ago, I thought I would make another round of posts, showing some of the other beads I shot at the Prehistoric Museum in Munich in 1992.
As mentioned earlier, this wonderful regional museum houses a remarkable collection of beads, spanning prehistoric through Frankish times (roughly contemporary with the Sasanian and Islamic Periods in the Middle East, and with the Viking Period north of Germany). Also called the Migration Period by some writers.
Not all of these images turned out technically well, and I found that some of the better shots have migrated into some other folder, where I can't put my hands on them at the moment.... But they are such interesting beads and arrangements, I decided to show most of them anyway. I'll make an attempt at being chronological.
We begin with this shot of a very early necklace composed of red deer teeth, such as prehistoric folks wore several thousand years ago. A curious thing that happened is this. Robert Liu first advised me to go to this museum to see thes bead collections. And one of the things he told me to look-out for was a "necklace of ancient breast beads." And, of course, I did want to see this. (Notice the specimen in Lois Dubin's History of Beads, for a GREAT example of what I was expecting to see.) But I didn't see such a necklace anywhere in the museum. When I got back, Robert asked me about seeing that piece, and I said I couldn't find it. But after talking for a while, I figured out that he meant THIS necklace. These are not "breast beads" in the sense of having been carved to be that. But it is true that when pairs of deer teeth are placed together, they do look like breasts..., and this may be exactly what inspired ancient beadmakers to CARVE bone and ivory into breast-shaped beads in antiquity. In any event, Robert didn't recognize the beads as being deer teeth..., but that's what they are. And maybe "breast beads" too.
Jamey
Copyright 2024
All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users

Original Message: More Old German Beads
After seeing that some of you are interested in the Frankish beads I posted a few days ago, I thought I would make another round of posts, showing some of the other beads I shot at the Prehistoric Museum in Munich in 1992. As mentioned earlier, this wonderful regional museum houses a remarkable collection of beads, spanning prehistoric through Frankish times (roughly contemporary with the Sasanian and Islamic Periods in the Middle East, and with the Viking Period north of Germany). Also called the Migration Period by some writers. Not all of these images turned out technically well, and I found that some of the better shots have migrated into some other folder, where I can't put my hands on them at the moment.... But they are such interesting beads and arrangements, I decided to show most of them anyway. I'll make an attempt at being chronological. We begin with this shot of a very early necklace composed of red deer teeth, such as prehistoric folks wore several thousand years ago. A curious thing that happened is this. Robert Liu first advised me to go to this museum to see thes bead collections. And one of the things he told me to look-out for was a "necklace of ancient breast beads." And, of course, I did want to see this. (Notice the specimen in Lois Dubin's History of Beads, for a GREAT example of what I was expecting to see.) But I didn't see such a necklace anywhere in the museum. When I got back, Robert asked me about seeing that piece, and I said I couldn't find it. But after talking for a while, I figured out that he meant THIS necklace. These are not "breast beads" in the sense of having been carved to be that. But it is true that when pairs of deer teeth are placed together, they do look like breasts..., and this may be exactly what inspired ancient beadmakers to CARVE bone and ivory into breast-shaped beads in antiquity. In any event, Robert didn't recognize the beads as being deer teeth..., but that's what they are. And maybe "breast beads" too. Jamey Copyright 2024 All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users

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