How very sad I was to read Jamey's message about Howard.
I posted these photos last year on a thread about amber, though these beads are made of glass. Howard and Marie-Jose moved to France just after I got addicted to beads and had joined the Bead Society of Greater Washington. Of all the beads I've ever collected since then, these are my all time favorites. I had just returned from Tunisia and traded scented beads that I had watched being made for these small glass beauties. I bought the larger "amber" beads from the Oppers at the same time. I still remember holding the smaller ones in my hand and Howard pointing out with great pride which of the individual beads he had made and which were M-J's. I remember also that Howard always wore a choker of rare Kiffa beads of which I knew nothing until reading M-J's monograph. I will eventually de-accession my collection of Venetians and all the rest, but these beads will go to my granddaughter. I strung a few of them with two beads that Danny Lopacki drilled and polished for me using my rough amber
I'm so glad to have had a chance to meet the Oppers and wish to send Marie-Jose my condolences. Paula