From the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza show last weekend - a table selling newly made Venetian "tributes" to vintage / antique Venetian trade beads. Joyce and I spent a long time looking them over, and it appears that at least some millefiori cane from the "old days" could have been used to make these.
The first picture is a close-up of 4 of these newly made beads that I purchased.
The second picture shows some of the displays of these new beads at the show.
The new beads have very small holes 1- 1.5 mm, so that is one way to tell them from the older versions. But if these beads eventually work their way into trade bead strands, in a few decades it will be hard to pick them out.
Chuckle of the day - a store clerk was admiring my trade bead necklace and I told her that the beads were from Venice. To which she inquired, "Venice, California, right?"
