Chevron beads and cane, fiorato beads. Hansa catalog approx. 1990.

Venetian Lace beads, Sommerso beads. Hansa catalog approx 1990.

Hansa catalog approx 1990.

It seems to me that you are not te only one with this catalog.....
The Chinese production is very similar!
Have a look at this Chinese manufacturer/exporter Lu Beads from China.

The beads seen on the Lu Beads website look like the beads examined by Uwe. They have transparency where Venetian beads do not. I think the copies have improved since the beads seen on Lu site were made.

Moretti (Venetian) beads are completely opaque. None of the glass is transparent. There can be a wide variety of canes, or sometime a more limited palette. White glass is usually present, even abundant. The Hansa beads have a lot of orange, not always seen in all batches of Moretti beads.

My understanding about Moretti is they accepted only large orders from limited numbers of buyers, manufacturing to suit. The buyer could choose which canes he wanted the maker to use, thus pushing the color palette of the beads one way or the other. Single cane beads could be ordered in large batches. However, the polychrome versions were always popular so we see many of them.

The owner of my local bead store tried to do business with Moretti. She went to Italy to speak with them in person. The owners refused to deal with women she said. They told her husband her shop was too small, her order too small. This story is hearsay and anecdotal but I've always wondered if anyone else had similar stories.

Interesting.....I do see some clear similarities, especially in beads with mixed patterns. There are similarities but, as you point out, also differenes. However, I would not be suprised as Moretti beads from this period have been used as an inspiration for the Chinese beads, There have been newer ones from China, that are even closer. Some of those are closer to the ones from the Sick & Co. collection.

Btw: some technical issues with the CD of the Sick & Co, Will be on its way soon, though.

Here's a funny thought... Maybe soon we will be seeing Chinese millefiori beads with a mixture of imitation Moretti canes and imitation Sick Co. trade bead canes. Now that's a laugh only a bead nut could appreciate.

Thinking about it, I wonder why the Chinese would choose to copy Moretti cane. It is a newer type of Venetian, mostly from the 20th century. I would think they would pursue copying older trade bead cane... I suppose we can call it "Sick Company" type cane.

Moretti polychrome bead necklaces seem to fetch good values, so perhaps it is price that drives the copying. The beads remain popular even though they aren't particularly scarce. Moretti type glass might be easier to imitate too. The newer examples of Chinese beads are single cane millefiori in oval shapes, so that's another high end of the marketplace for Moretti style cane.

The black and white floral cane is a good example. It was very unusual to find Moretti beads with all B&W cane, and the prices have always been high. Here was a perfect place for the Chinese to fill a market void, especially as fashions changed and black and white became very popular again a year or two ago.

Floor, a huge thanks to you for your efforts to share the CD with me. I look forward to the eventual arrival, but please don't feel rushed. No hurry.