I went to a wholesale gem and bead show with friends in Orlando back in 1990 and bought my first Venetian wedding cake beads that the seller told me were authentic vintage Venetian. I learned later that they were from India. I design beaded jewelry as a hobby so I only bought beads for resale. Then one day I started collecting for myself and began researching and now I am totally addicted to beads! I mostly collect Venetian trades and Venetian jewelry as well as gemstones. Yikes! But it is such fun and the BCN has opened up more avenues of knowledge and sources of beads so to me this hobby never gets old.