There was a dealer of ethnic and tribal jewelry offering the Chinese chevrons as Venetian only about 15 vendor stalls from a distributor selling Chinese chevrons as Chinese. It was difficult to persuade this vendor of the beads' origin, who claimed to have bought the beads in Italy. He was finally convinced when J. Allen showed him his huge orange chevron, pictured above, and explained that the bead had never been to Africa or Venice, but that it had been purchased from the manufacturer in China December 2006.
The following image is of a sample card recently sent from the Chinese manufacturer to a U.S. importer- it is a current card as of March 2007. These beads measure approximately 27mm x 34mm.
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The reactions to these new Chevrons from China were quite profound. The quality of the beads is impressive. We took them everywhere we went during the Tucson shows, making sure other vendors as well as collectors were aware of them. It is important to know your source and to know your beads, and to share this information. It is unclear at this time what effect these new beads may have on the market - and it is our hope that they won't continue to be unleashed as "uncirculated vintage Venetian", or artificially aged and added to actual vintage/antique groupings.
This collection of images and experiences has been assembled from a period of months of observation by the following beadcollector.net members. Many thanks to Jamey Allen, Charles McColloster, Jody McDonnell, Russ Nobbs, John and Ruth Picard for their great bead museum and for their volume 7: "Chevron and Nueva Cadiz Beads", Art Seymour, Thomas Stricker and Abdul Touray, for their help and contributions.
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