Hi Floor,
I've always thought these were Czech rather than Japanese - but don't know how to confirm - I also have some somewhere with a brown base.

The only reason I think they are Japanese, can be because people on BCN referred to them as such.
Thinking about my trips to the Czech Republic, I can not remember seeing any. Will have a look out for them in the books, but they do not appear Czech to me.

It was my way of trying to get a better understanding of the millefiori patterns. May have another go some time. Polymer clay is a very forgiving material.

...the one to his right I only now with five or six "points" around the center, not with four...

The variation is much greater than with the molded and layered variaties.

Beads in the second image are not from the African Trade

Your fantastic collection of Millefioris! Most people do not know that you own one of the largest collections of this kind of bead!!!!

Hello Uwe;

It means most of my collection is not here in New York State USA. Also I deleted most of my bead photos in my files. Recently I have been building my collection with New Modern beads. I managed to find this "Old Post" from way back.

Be Well

Sincerely
Thomas Mercer
Dog Bone Crazy

I was hoping something like that...and this image is still beautiful!!
Take care...

Thankfully I will see you coming! And you'll smell like Houston Bar B Q !

ROFL!

Sincerely
Bead Hawg II

Let's just say you get your elbows clean. How are you going to get rid of all the Spanish Moss?

And ... !

Let's just say the old "oak tree" works. There is 320 you have to dig up. Then there is 160 tewnty miles east of there to dig up. Then there is the 2 around my house to dig up. PLUS!... There's my Posse!

ROFL!

Dog Bone Cazy

How are you three going to get rid of all the Spanish Moss?

Glad you able to find some photos of your impressive collection.

so many yummy beads!

The first pictures is a mix of African trade and non trade.
Second picture is all non African trade

Thousands of them could be posted and there might not be a duplicate...
Here are some wild clear ones with red band from the African trade early 20th c. (1930s or so?), and a Euro strand, late 20th century....

Some of the more unusual milles in my collection - but Wayne beat me to it on the "ace of spade" milles.

These two were photographed on a visit to Rome in 2006. I believe they were in one of the museums we visited. The vase is modern, and (if I remember right) the bowl is either an older one or a copy of an older one.

Whatever the age, they are great to look at!

Carole

...I remember times in the 70´s, when I for sure had looked into this bowl for hours, if I had one...imagine, to fill it with beads with the same murrine...would blow me away....Many thanks for showing, Carole!

Beads in the second image are from the 1960s

I missed these sundayshowandtell "showdowns" from the past... reminds me on my early days of my bead addiction, when I posted my first beads here, thinking they will be nice and rare, and Carl shows a whole strand of the same bead short time later...:-)
Now I have made three photos to show, looked again, if something is new, and see, that Carl has just posted a whole strand of these blue bead(s)(bead for me, beads for Carl...LOL...)A trip back in time...

Thank you all again, I really enjoy it...!!

okay, this still nice blue one...; a more common rosetta pattern, but with an unusual dark center in murrine; and one, I have shown some years before: a broken bead, not so uncommon as well from style and murrine, but interesting because of this layered basis, I have never seen again, and I saw sooo many broken beads.....

Thank all of you for sharing these - they are wonderful.

Beads are made for sharing!

The elusive "rooster" millefiori pattern also makes very cool beads - wish I had more! The large elbow is combined with two of my very favorite medium sized bicones. These just go together so well!

Love those Venetians, everyone - a great Sunday showing! Thanks!

bead addiction makes one do strange things. Saw this at an antique store and felt compelled to buy it. Now I don't know what to do with it. Guess taking a picture of it and posting it on the BCN gives it a "raison d'etre." Label says "Block Crystal-Mouth Blown-Hand Cut-Hand Polished" All the more reason to buy it! Carole T.

This is a rather large bead measuring 20 cm. The perforation is larger at one end than the other but no larger than 5 cm with some nice wound features at both ends. I apologize for the quality of the photo. Santa did not get me a nice camera :-(

Everything points to a bead made in India, the size, the size of the perforation (I presume you are referring to mm, not cm)the murrini and the overall style.
In general, when you see a large bead, it is not cylinder shaped, and it has cane slices scattered on the bead, without completely covering it, chances are it will be Indian. Not foolproof, but very often true. Big bead, poorly distributed cane slices, odd shapes for a Venetian bead: Indian.
The Chinese and Indonesian copies are a lot closer to the original in shape.

Thank you Floor for starting this post, it has been a lot of fun seeing all the amazing beads and non beads that people have been posting. I have been going through my beads all day and looking at things I have not looked for sometime because of it. Here are a few with aventurine that I love. The center bead is not from the African trade.

The top two outer tabulars.

I WAS supposed to be cleaning house today but whiled away my hours on this thread-thanks Floor :-). My gut feeling is that the first bead is really old but it is probably from India. If people ask me if I collect something, I should probably say beads from India. My New Year's Resolution should be to put my immense collection of beads from India in one box :-) The second bead is probably Venetian and, at least to me, so ugly that it is mesmerizing. I would like to think the third bead is African made but is probably......drum roll please.....from INDIA!!!! Judges...please????

any idea where yours is from?

without seeing the holes it is tricky, but my guess for number one and two are Venetian, and number three, don't know.

...but, they are authentic Venetians...no? And, certainly they pale in comparison to what has been shown here. And, as it's been pointed out to me...my collection is probably full of fakes.

Anyway, I like how the dog bones compliment those oval watchamacallit's! One day, perhaps, they will form a bracelet.

They're not Indian....are they? :)

I know I would not have been missed had I not partaken in this, well, familial ritual of the Sunday Show & Tell...but, it brought to mind these beads. They resided in a ceramic container on my night stand for the longest time and they have not been taken out of the box since I moved in March of '10. So, I was happy to be reacquainted with them again.

My question about whether or not they were authentic was rhetorical. And, I admit I was being sardonic with the Indian question. I apologize. Still, one can never be certain. I do trust Dinos and think he is a wonderful salesman. And, it always tickles me to receive African Trade Beads from Africa.