As far as I could determine, the only place in Venice to buy vintage and antique beads is Paropamiso, close to San Marco Square. I spent a good deal of time there, chatting with Michel, and looking through drawers of collectible beads.

Two of the special things I brought home with me are shown. First is a group of oblate beads with the "festoon" or "arcade" decoration. Michel agrees that these are probably from Venice, made sometime in the 19th century, but he also said they have only been found in Iran. So, it is also possible they were made in that area. Currently there is no firm evidence one way or the other. Michel has a pretty good quantity of these beads, in various sizes, colors, and conditions. And not cheap. But, I was happy to add to my collection of these beauties.

Second picture is a carved carnelian melon bead, about 22 mm diameter. I pulled this out of a tray of beads, thinking it was an antique. I have a very similar, somewhat larger one, so I was interested in it. But, Michel told me it was a fairly new production bead from India. That surprised me since I thought mine was an "old" pema raka. I purchased it (not expensive) for comparison to my bead and sure enough, it is almost identical in material and workmanship.