Hi Rick - From left to right:
Cobalt and Sapphire blue from Albert Summerfield, presumed Pacific Northwest/Hudson's Bay origin, 10mm.
White from Northern California, 9mm [vaseline bead is 12mm diameter]. Dark cobalt from Africa, 12mm
Sapphire from Africa,
9mm White from Africa.

9mm Dark cobalt beads lack the lighter inner ring, sapphire beads have it, PNW sapphire typically seem to have thinner walls and smaller facets (i.e., they're more cylindrical) than African.

The really big PNW honkers that I've seen (16mm) have all been dark cobalt without any inner ring.

So what do you know about your beads?

Best regards, Chris

From what I was told, the beads were made in Italy in the
1700's to early 1800's & that they are the lined type and are older than the solid blue ones. Is this your understanding also? Thanks for your postings. Feel free to contact me personally...

Italy? Not that I've ever heard - most likely Bohemia, perhaps in the late 18th century, but definitely by the 1830's (based upon samples and canes in German glass factory archives]. Many were cut on grinding wheels in small, impoverished home workshops in the Fichtel Mountains between Germany and the Czech Republic.

I think of most of these as Victorian - 1920's. And yes, the ones lacking the lighter core do seem to be later, post Civil War, if only because a lot of this type seemed to eddy up with the Hudson's Bay Company and in the Pacific Northwest.

And there was such a pile of nice, shiny new ones that the Africans were selling ten years ago - as opposed to the worn ones typical of the African trade - I wondered if perhaps an unopened crate had been discovered somewhere, or old canes cut into new beads...

Anybody know anything about that?

Staying tuned,
Chris

Thanks so much for your info. I really questioned Italy!

And here's a couple more:
On the left, collected in Africa by Michael Heide, ht 10mm, diameter 12mm
On the right, also from Africa, in a more rounded "hazelnut" shape, nicest bead next to dime is 12mm high, 15mm in diameter. Inner powder blue ring. Some of the other more worn beads show the dark-powder-dark blue ring sequence similar to yours.

Shed any light on anything?

Best regards,
Chris

Hi Rick,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I received your message at my Yahoo account, but I have been busy.

I don't know of any empirical evidence for the seriation of so-called "Russian blue" trade beads. So I couldn't tell you if those without internal (usually paler) layers are earlier or not.

I do know that most (possibly all) that I have seen from the North West are typically monochromatic, and have no different internal layers. The most common color is a deep rich blue that verges on being somewhat violet, and often photographs as violet.

The range of these beads traverses Alaska to Northern California (to not far from where I live—and I have some non-blue ones from Lake County), along the West Coast in particular, but also somewhat inland. The Russians were situated as far south as Sonoma County where I live (note the nearby Russian River, only ca. 15 miles from me)—so it's not difficult for me to believe the Russians traded in these beads. They were available in several other colors apart from dark blue, including violet, colorless (but not clear, because of the bubbly quality of the glass), white, and teal. Deep translucent red is known.

That these beads are called "Russian" beads is misleading because they were made in Bohemia. That they were traded in N. America by the Russians is probably true..., but if so it would have been VERY late in the Fur Trade Era. Put otherwise, most of these beads are from later in time than many people would like to believe.

I have a strand derived from West Africa that is translucent brown—the color of root beer, that I rather like and value—and is very similar in glass quality to other (wound) beads I believe to be Bohemian and from the 19th C.

Jamey

This belongs to a friend of mine. It's a very typical combination of 19th and 20th C. trade beads found in Alaska, strung as it would have been worn. Note the "Russian blue," wound Venetian overlay, probably Chinese monochrome, and other beads—including native-made white shell disks.

JDA.

Hi Jamey -

Wow, thanks for posting the necklace pics. What part of the state are these pieces supposed to be from? I ask because I've never seen any necklaces with shell discs down here in the panhandle - people just seem to wear heirloom strands of cut blue beads "straight" without mixing anything else in - or with at most, blue Chinese beads as in one of your examples. I keep a lookout for dentalia, but haven't seen anything with those, either.

So I'm curious if someone in the state actually made shell discs once upon a time, or if they were a trade item from down south. Ivory seems to be the material of choice for little charms and doodads, with opercula and abalone shell for inlay. No clamshell work that I'm aware of, but then, I'm unaware of a whole lot of things :^)

The bead use traditions vary with the assorted cultural groups in the state - it's a big state - so if you know from which group or area the necklaces came, that would be interesting and useful info.

Staying tuned,
Chris

This NW Coast necklace combines large "Russian blue" beads with what are assumed to be monochromatic wound Chinese beads. However, the latter look very European to me. It is nevertheless a fabulous strand of beads.

JDA.