May the "Venetians" among us tell their story - I felt always insucure about them.
My early gut-feeling said they might not be murano-made, unless old, unless from the earliest times of venetian beadmaking (17th or 18th centuries?). Everything about them smells Murano, though. Their colors, the trailing, the feathering.
What they lack is sophistication, hence my worries, though, again, old age might explain that. Most of all - I do not see any other logical place of production.
I am not a fan of them anyway: too crude, too sloppy made, too big (many of them) and without much finetuning for the most part.
I saw lots of them in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and to a lesser extend also in northern India, another point that made me doubt Italy as their place of origin - at least during my early days as bead collector.
Had I only one shot, I would say Venice anyway. Possibly (very) made rather early - their lack of detail and fine execution makes me say so.
I find the price of 1.200 $ (on Ebay) greatly exaggarated. But that's my personal view, leave alone I do not have any other prices for comparison.
They should be part of any serious collection nevertheless, but I cannot say I like or greatly appreciate them! Actually I do not own a single piece and never did. Shame on me! Will try to get a handful now, though!
At least in our part of the world, this is a task for the patient and dedicated. They are lovely artifacts! Thanks for showing their present grouping.
I was of the impression this was the EBAY-strand. Though I checked EBAY too, I did not realize the difference! REALLY!!
Yes, as artEfacts they are definitely valuable - no question! I always said that beads do not have to be necessarily pretty to be colletable. And they are anything but ugly! Especially the smaller ones are cute.
I was not trashing the strand - how could I, why should I? Actually I wish I owned it.
I hope somebody comes around to tell us their true story
