Description

Venetian white heart, eye, and trailed trade beads of varied shapes and sizes.
Produced in Venice for the African trade, this collection includes eighteen white heart beads displaying the characteristic white glass core beneath a red outer layer, together with eye beads and trailed beads decorated with white, blue, and yellow glass ornamentation.

The twenty-four beads exhibit individual variations in form, colour, and pattern, reflecting their handmade production.
The combination of white hearts, eye beads, and trailed beads creates an attractive and diverse grouping representative of the trade beads that circulated throughout West Africa during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Collected in Mali, the beads remain in very good overall condition.

Bead sizes:

7mm-17mm in length
10mm-14mm in diameter
24 beads

Temporary stringing on nylon