Hello Darci,

I am sending you a private message. Please look for it.

Thanks, Fred

I've been wondering about your reply, Frederick. For my edification, would you please describe why you think the beads in the above post (that sold recently on eBay) are arguably late 20th century and your beads (attached) are not? I'm just curious what makes you think so.

I'm including a few images of early Boshan beads and their posts; some of these beads are yours.

This is the post that goes with the below images (which are images of your beads):

beadiste 03/03/2015, 19:33:45

What I see is a difference in lampworking technique - on the older beads, the red/green/yellow trails are added as "frames" for the starburst murrine, often assuming a rather squarish overall outline, or circling the ends of oval beads. They seem to be conceived as squiggly lines of color.

Whereas on the newer beads, the accent trails often appear to be dotted dabs.

Another difference is glass texture - the older beads seem to be mostly smooth and opaque, even semi-tranlucent or milky in appearance.
No gassy, bubbly tomato red or transparent green glass, for example.
Bubble gum and toffee versus transparent lollipop sugar candies...

Again, the colors are vibrant, not subtle, and the frames impinge on the eyes rather than frame them...

Joyce 02/04/2016, 21:58:13

…I've been more curious about the lovely 1930s Boshan (Chinese) millefiori beads in recent years. I was really rather dazzled to see these beads from the Summerfield collection displayed by Jamey Allen in the ballroom with the Ethnographic Group. What a splash of color! I will knot them simply on black cord. Approx. 12mm x 12mm.