| Original Message: "Square Cuts', "English Squiggle Beads" and "English Cuts" |
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Hi Patrick, Luann, Stef et al I agree, all the beads on Patrick's spangles are English made, except for the two green facetted Bohemian ones which may or may not be 'English cuts' - a name which I have known used to describe a particular 19th/early 20th century shape of facetted Bohemian bead which turn up on bobbins, and on necklaces etc down to the 1920's/1930's. The square ones are all English 'square cuts' (this is a traditional name - they are not cut, this is a colloquial term). They are wound glass beads usually with impressed file marks on four sides and were made for English lacemakers by English "lapidaries" (some of who were also from bobbin-making families) from the late 18th and throughout the 19th century in the East Midlands counties. They used mainly transparent clear glass, and various shades of ruby glass (which turn up as very light swirled pinks through to deep ruby reds), although small amounts of other colours are found. I have had some early ones analysed by a scientific colleague at the Ancient Monuments Laboratory (English Heritage) and the basic conclusion was that they were being made from glass which had the same composition as the crystal glass invented in England in the late 17th century and being used in the mid 18th century with great skill in the English West Midlands glass industry (Stourbridge etc.). So makers in the East Midlands counties could well have been using scrap glass from the vessel trade - hence clear and ruby red are dominant in the earlier period and become somewhat "traditional". Much later in the 19th century, almost when the English handmade lace industry was in decline, square beads which resemble the older English ones (but in general are much larger in size) were made in the Bohemian/German bead industry. I have seen many of these types, especially in transparent clear, opalescent turquoise and transparent amber on later 19th century/early 20th century bobbins There are two small ruby glass beads which are probably English as well. The two larger decorated 'bottom beads' in Patrick's spangles are what I have always called in my lectures and articles as "English squiggle" beads, and there is evidence to suggest these were probably made, for the most part, by the same people who made the square cuts. They are wound glass beads of various colours with random squiggled trails, often only 8mm diameter, but sometimes up to 12mm and even in oval shapes. These beads were made mainly in the first half of the 19th century and not made for jewellery, and turn up on many early bobbins. They are poor copies of more elaborate Venetian ones, but at the end of the 18th/early 19th century, the Venetian glass industry had been hit by the Napoleonic Wars. Curiously, at the beginning of the 20th century when lacemaking in England was in severe decline, many old lacemakers got rid of their old equipment some of which had been in lacemaking families for generations, and although bobbins were often thrown away, the beads were sometimes stripped off and made into necklaces. I have seen quite a few of these over the years with the "English squiggle beads". The 1920's is about the time when you would expect antique dealers to be getting rid of old lace equipment they couldn't sell, and recycling the beads into jewellery which they could sell. Hope this helps Carole All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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