I've examined over 10,000+ 18th/19th/20th century lace bobbins, and only 2 were made of ivory, and these were specially made in India - very very rare. Some late 20th century makers made the odd ivory bobbins from pieces certificated by the Kenyan government and cleared by the 1947/1973 conventions.

Most of the English 19th/early 20th century lace bobbins of this kind were made of cattle bone. The polish/patina is from many 1000's of hours of work and use.

What happened to their bead spangles????

Cheers
Carole

Whose idea? Who did it? Who owns it?

Collected a few at a time on Portobello Road, after I had finished my usual rounds. Some of the lace dealers would save their odd bits and bobs for me -especially the ones missing their spangles.

Gradually over the years, I gathered quite a few. Intending to replace the missing spangles. I hadn't the idea of a necklace in mind until the bobbins spoke to me as potential neckwear instead.

It is strung on power-pro with tiny steel cut beads from old French purses in between. And it is adjustable in length with a series of removable extensions in back.

Surprisingly comfortable, I have only worn it once to a Bead Society Meeting. And it gathered an enthusiastic crowd.

The patina of the bone sticks is quite beautiful because they were handled thousands of times by lacemakers.

Absolutely lovely!

It appears that a few well-off and fashionable British ladies in the early twentieth century saw little harm in collecting and removing the spangles from lace bobbins -making beautiful long glass bead necklaces.

Occasionally, while shopping the Newark Fair & London's Portobello Road, Horticultural Hall, Alexandra Palace, and Gray's Markets- I have run into rare examples made from spangles. They are usually found loosely knotted with a 1920's look.

While I have shopped in London dozens of times over the past forty years, I have found too many antique bobbins sometimes include new beads on new wire. Therefore, I shy away and have purchased only a few examples with spangles intact. Perhaps I should visit the auctions where large lots of lace bobbins, of wood and bone, occasionally turn up. If I lived in London, I would do that.

Adapting beads for neckwear is not a new idea. By comparison, Anne Hall Grundy would remove the ojime from netsuke and inro ensembles to form a necklace which is now the British Museum Collection of Ojime. The Gilbertson Ojime Necklace is another early 20th c. British example (now belonging to Iris Rubinfield) shown intact in Bob Kinsey's book "OJIME, MAGICAL JEWELS OF JAPAN": color plate 45, page 17.

No doubt, my "cattlebone bobbins are polished from many 1000's of hours of work and use," as Carole Morris says. -And dense bone with a lustrous patina is sometimes mistaken as ivory. Perhaps Carole Morris may take time from her busy schedule to share more from her experience.

I admire the Englishwomen and men who have a cornucopia of opportunities for first hand research in the exceedingly bountiful markets of Great Britain.

Cheers,

Hi Frederick

Yes - these kinds of necklaces do appear from time to time, and tend to use the lampmade English-made 'squiggle beads' more often than others, although I've seen all types of lace beads on them.

The bead spangle on East Midlands style bobbins was almost certainly invented from c.1760's onwards in England as an anti-swivelling device to prevent previously unspangled types of bobbins overtwisting (or untwisting) and spoiling thread which was now machine-spun instead of hand-spun. The entire question of when spangles were invented is bound up in the introduction of machine-spun threads in the English Industrial Revolution. They also act as an added weight (on slim lightweight English bobbins) to keep the threads straight and under tension. Although historically most of them were made in the usual European glass beadmaking centres of Venice, Bohemia, France, etc., many others were actually made in England itself, including 'square cuts' and 'English squiggle' beads (see image).

Cheers
Carole

There are some small early Venetian beads on this image too.
Carole

Carole,

Thank you for sharing your experience from
having viewed over ten thousand lace bobbins.

Would you kindly hazard a guess: from your impression,
what percentage came from various European countries?
For example: twenty percent Venetian, and five percent English.

An expert/peer in ojime has asked me to proportion the materials
used for ojime. And I realized I was just guessing because I don't know.
But your distributions may provide a clue to the elusive history of spangles.

Cheerio!

Hi Frederick

Just to put this in context - I am a teacher of bobbin lace and have been for 30 years - the collecting, researching, lecturing etc are all part of my lifelong interest in beads, bobbins, etc (among other things!)

I would estimate (similar, but not quite the same as Mel) that:

(i) English-made (by specialists, not in the home, so not home-made as such) about 50%-55%, mainly square cuts and squiggle beads, some plain round

(ii) Bohemian/Central Europe about 35-40%, including plain round; drawn beads in the form of plain or facetted Sprengperlen, into which so-called "Russian blues" and other colours fall; moulded beads (including facetted, fire-polished, English-cut facetted), seed beads/rocailles

(iii) Venetian lampmade fancies and some plain, also seed beads, about 8%

(iv) Other beads and items about 2%

All this is approximate but gives a general idea. Also, proportions at any one time may be different considering that there have been English lace spangles for about 250 years.

Hope this helps
Carole

Hi Carole,

Will you kindly contrast and compare which beads in your posted image are "English Squiggle" and which are Venetian with squiggles?...Also, what is the size of the largest bead, please?

Hi Frederick

Most of the beads in my image are English squiggle beads - approximately 8mm (about 1/4") diameter. Wound beads, plain colour base with polychrome squiggles. The bead with the black arrow pointing to it is a Venetian bead. I think there are a couple of others - such as the white bead with pink/red spots on the top row of the string (4th from right). There are no Venetian 'sguiggle' beads on the image.

This ebay auction is for a bead often referred to as a Venetian squiggle bead (also erroneously called by some a "Dutch delft"). 19th century Venetian ones are usually blue on white, sometimes with pink trails as well.

I also showed some variously coloured Venetian types recently, dated to the 3rd quarter of the 18th century on the Van Selow vase in the Lady Lever Gallery.

Hope this clarifies.

Cheers
Carole

Hi Carole, a while back there were a number of really interesting postings regarding lace bobbin spangles which I thought were fascinating so I started collecting them here and there. If memory serves (my bobbins are stashed away somewhere) almost half of the beads on the ones I've got are the square, dimpled, transparent red or clear variety that are homemade. I've also seen a lot of faceted Bohemian "Russian Blue" beads in all kinds of colors. Do you find many of this type on your bobbin spangles? In my very limited experience I'd say roughly 1/2 were homemade in the UK, 3/8 are Bohemian/Czech and 1/8 Venetian.
Very interesting thread, thanks Fredrick! -Melissa

Looking for a little something to do
in your spare time for fun & profit?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snV2WZhKorw

I would get lost studying the details, it's so intricate.

It seems to me that the distinguishing characteristics of most fancy lace bobbin beads are small sizes and their stylistic squiggles. And my confusion comes from not being familiar with bobbins employing beads larger than 17mm, or 5/8 inch.

When comparable squiggle beads are found as Venetian examples ONE INCH AND LARGER in the African trade, I can see why it has been argued that a number of fancy English lace bobbin beads may have been made more often by Venetians.

The lace bobbin bead in "Greasy yellow" with pink and white squiggles in the lower right of Carole's image is occasionally found in large sizes among African Trade Beads. I am doubting that an Englishman would have made such a bead over one inch in diameter.

However, we may also speculate that a Venetian may have copied an English style...Nobody really knows when we are mainly relying upon oral history.

Thank you very much -everyone- for sharing your comments and expertise. I enjoy our balmy collaboration in attempt to restring the long lost past.

Sincerely,