The first pictures shows some of the more unique treasures I found, and am very pleased with. A dice, which they apparantly also made, some tiny talhakimt pendants, two cross shaped beads,a snake bead and a bead that is definately inspired by one or more of the West-African flags in red, yellow and green.

The second picture shows some of the beads that were more common, beautiful chunky red beads.

I wonder if many of the tri-tone beads were made - I don't have any! I had just a couple of the salmon colored crosses until Judy gave me these - I love them.

Some of the beads I did not expect to find: facetted bead, and beads with a irridescent coating, made to resemble pearls.

Because they give an interesting look at the way the beads are produced, some of the beads that went wrong, and some beads that got stuck together.

When I get some more together, and post it in the blog, I'll let you know.

This would be a great weekend get-a-way for many on this forum, what a great find....so much cool stuff, I wonder if you could do a dig and date the layers :) I'm looking forward to seeing more goodies uncovered!

Okay Floor,
Here's where Bapterosses is completely missing out on an opportunity! They could book dig tours to the wasters site, complete with campsites, coffee and food concessions, facilities and wireless internet! Also security to keep people from fighting over the uncovered finds. I am sure that tearing yourself away from there was the hardest thing you've had to do in awhile! What fun! Please keep us informed.

Is this the same factory that produced all the white hearts and "old time" colors that were sold through Bovis Beads in the US?

If so, can you confirm the rumor that when the bead production closed that the equipment was scrapped? I've heard that, instead of offering the equipment for sale, it was sold quickly for the iron scrap.

Hi Russ,

That was a different manufacturer in Lyon, France. I think JP can fill in some blanks with them. I used to buy those beads from Pierre Bovis for General Bead in the 80s, and still have a tiny bit. I wish I'd bought a kilo or more of the opalescent pink 5/0's - just used some today - their pinks and lavenders, minty pale green as well as the greasy yellow are unlike anyone else's ever.

Here's the link to "The French Connection" by the Picards containing important information about Bapterosses, Prosser beads, and the sale of Bapterosses equipment to someone in Morocco.

In the Picard article they say
"In the meantime Bapterosses' bead-making machinery was sold by the weight to a Moroccan firm."

That may be where the rumor of selling the equipment from the Lyon factory came from.

Thanks for the link, Joyce. It's been a while since I read the articles on this site. Time to reread them all again.

This is absolutely the neatest thing to hit this forum in YEARS! YEARS!!!!

This is a fun link with more photos and a video at the bottom!

Just the best vacation trip I could ever imagine - prospecting for beads in a veritable bead "mine"!

I already thought some of you might be as excited as I was!

The button collectors' website is actually the site that introduced me to the dump. I was doing a general search on the bapterosses factory, and found this site. I contacted Jane Quimby, a button collector, and she was very friendly and helped me find it.

She also told me that a few years ago, two men who are not connected to the factory actually bought the dump site. They intend to at some point maybe start charging people, but this has not yet happened. This would also not be a real issue for the bead collectors, considering that it's the tile gatherers that take out loads more. Small glass tiles are pretty expensive, and here you can just pick them up in any colour or shape you like.

Generally in the town, they do not go around advertising the existence of this site. At both the museum and at the tourist office they will tell you it is not accessible or does not exist. There may be two reasons for this. The first is that it can be pretty dangerous to go digging. You can easily slip, fall, and some tiles can be sharp as well. Second reason is that there is still a factory of glass and ceramic tiles that obviously prefers people to buy their goods, instead of looking for old ones for free.

I will be posting more on my blog later, including some video material. If anyone is interested in going, I would be happy to share specific directions and advice on where and how to dig through email. It could also be fun if people were serious about going, to go with a few people together. Briare is accesible by train.

The tri-coloured beads were pretty rare. I only found the ones shown in the picture and a few broken ones. They look more fragile than the others. I also included a picture from a sample card from the museum that shows this style of beads.

About the machinery going to Morocco. On the link below from africantradebeads.com newly made prosser beads from Morocco are shown. Supposedly from Czech equipment, but more likely from the Bapterosses factory I would think. I thought someone from africantradebeads.com also visited BCN (not sure) so perhaps he can elaborate where he got them.

When I went into the small shop of the museum, they sold postcards of mosaics and such. They also had one postcard with beads. I am no chevron expert, but I was pretty convinced these were not beads made by the Bapterosses factory, but mostly Venetian beads. The lady from the museum insisted they were locally made. In the actual museum this strand of beads is shown in a case of I think is the personal collection of beads of the factory owner, used for inspiration of copies they could make.

I did not want to get into a big debate, but it did surprise me that they knew this little about their own beads. She also mentioned the visit of the Picards in 1994. She said they also said they were Bapterosses beads, which is obviously not so. See the post below by John.

Two pictures: the picture on the postcards, and the same beads in the museum display with next to it their attempt at making chevrons.

Floor, the strands of the round pale yellow beads look like the ones I've had in the past with hand applied "eyes". I have wondered if the eyes were applied in the factory, or in Africa to resemble the more expensive Venetian lampwork versions.

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