Beads in the African trade are often strung on raffia but also come strung on some kind of indigenous cotton.
These facetted " Russian blue" were made likely for almost a couple of hundred years.
Many workshops and turnover workers were involved and that contributed to a wide panoply of different shapes, sizes, colors and quality in the glass.
The beads can be dull from wearing or rough from excavation or from being buried with people like the ones found in Ghana, or they can look almost pristine like those found in the Port Harcourt area in Nigeria.
The beads in the exhibit show a large variety of them, all found in the African trade.
From lower to exquisite quality and from common to rare specimens.
JP