Hi Sue,
Your bead is a nice millefiori decorated lamp worked glass bead from the hey-days of trade beads, made in Venice and likely traded into Africa.
The end caps and wire work appear to be recent.
PS fantastic Macro photography - what camera did you use?
Thanks so much Rosanna, it is appreciated.
I used the Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR Camera with Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens to take the shots.
Thanks again!
They seem to be a c1910 - 1930s phenomenon. I did a trawl through the Sick Collection slides once upon a time looking for them.
If anyone spots one from somewhere else, let us know...
LATER, after a search, found this interesting sample card from birdi, showing variations of 7-point murrine clear into the 1990s, evidently:
http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=iYz&aK=88424&iZz=88424&gV=0&kQz=&aO=1&iWz=0
The Search function here almost always produces juicy results. Pic from a former thread, courtesy of Uwe.
http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=get&cG=8383433303&zu=3838333537&v=2&gV=0&p=
Check out numbers 2478-2537.
Curiously, most of the murrine on these beads appear to be the bundled cane variety.
Jamey has written before about the Moretti factory becoming major producers of molded cane after the end of WWI. So perhaps your bead, with its molded murrine, is post WWI?
I haven't gone further through the Sick card to discover if this style continues into subsequent decades.
