Again, I recommend my paper from the BIBC this past October, in which I discuss the heirloom beads from Borneo, Formosa, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Palau. Based on educated guesses, I speculate upon possible origins, point out modern trade beads, and discuss bead types that are found in more than one region.

I think that if you had a better understanding of Borneo--its culture and technological situation/level--you would not think it were possible any glass beads were made there in old times. This is nearly impossible (!).

My paper, and other BIBC papers, tend to confirm that glass beads in Borneo were always rare and exotic--which they would not have been had they been manufactured there.

I demonstrate that certain beads are modern trade beads, beginning with chevron beds from as long ago as the 16th and 17th Cs., though some are more recent. I compare Venetian chevron beads to similar-looking beads that necessarily are from that time or later. And I show other prototypes and similar-looking versions, that demonstrate an Islamic Period origin for some beads, and copies from later. I propose that the most significant heirloom beads (in the Lukut group) are European beads, most likely made at Venice. ( I am currently considering a Japanese origin for some of these beads.)

In the early 1990s, glass-beadmaking was introduced in Taiwan by Dirk Ross. His goal was two-fold. He wanted local people to have a new livelihood, and for new beads to be available so that old beads would not be lost through sales abroad. He hoped that new versions of old beads would be made. (I saw these new beads at Bead Expo in 1994 or 1996.) The new beads do not really resemble old heirloom beads. They were more crude (simple and less well-made), and only featured two colors, such as red and white, or black and white. No one who is familiar with Formosan heirloom beads would mistake the new beads for old ones.

Regarding Formosan beads, I show specimens of powderglass beads. I have been the primary proponent that these beads are peculiar to Island SE Asia, for a number of years now.

I would suggest that in the ISEA region, beads derive from an broad expanse of time and a variety of industries. There is not a single origin for any particular corpus of beads. Their origins include The Middle East, China, Europe, and possibly Japan. Locally, glass beads are known to have been made in Java and the Malay Peninsula. Within the Philippines is not impossible, though I would sooner look toward mainland SE Asia (Thailand and Vietnam).

Jamey