Any bead collectors here?

[Moonshine Joe]

That Illinois trade bead page is super interesting reference, especially once I realized that clicking on a thumbnail opened up a greatly detailed image and explanations. We'll worth bookmarking!
Here is an excellent reference book (2 images, cover and ISBN info so you can search interlinear loan & book sellers).

Also a third image of part of a fold-out timeliness chart of bead production.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

That Illinois trade bead page is super interesting reference, especially once I realized that clicking on a thumbnail opened up a greatly detailed image and explanations. We'll worth bookmarking!
Here is an excellent reference book (2 images, cover and ISBN info so you can search interlinear loan & book sellers).

That Illinois trade bead page is super interesting reference, especially once I realized that clicking on a thumbnail opened up a greatly detailed image and explanations. We'll worth bookmarking!
Here is an excellent reference book (2 images, cover and ISBN info so you can search interlinear loan & book sellers).

An excellent book indeed! Here is a book she did later that is a great book with wonderful photos:

 

[smo]

Turns out instead of buying a string of Lewis and Clark trade beads, the price was only for one . Was like $14. Turned out it is from 1897. At first I was frustrated, In a way now I’m kind of excited, will make an interesting piece for a pc necklace… Edit: Turns out it is not from 1897 but a reproduction from that year….expensive

That’s one reason I decided not too collect beads….

I can’t tell a reproduction from the real thing….

Well, in some cases I can tell.

 

[Mad L]

I recently acquired another addiction hobby that stemmed from muzzleloading. Trade beads lol. Thats all I needed was another hobby… Recently bought a bunch of French crow beads, bumblebee trade beads…Been looking at some venitian and Lewis and Clark trade beads. There are so many… Any bead collectors here? The following pictures aren’t the ones I currently ordered but will be ordering in the future…reproductions of course…View attachment 326496View attachment 326497View attachment 326498

Wandering Bull also get some nice beads in once in a while, mostly the same stuff Crazy Crow has but if you watch both sites from time to time the post a special batch...real antique will cost some $$$.

Wandering Bull does have some good detailed video tutorials on beading too.

https://wanderingbull.com/

 

[Black_Feather]

Wandering Bull also get some nice beads in once in a while, mostly the same stuff Crazy Crow has but if you watch both sites from time to time the post a special batch...real antique will cost some $$$.

Wandering Bull does have some good detailed video tutorials on beading too.

https://wanderingbull.com/

Thank you for that. I probably will stick to reproductions for cost reasons. Even some reproductions are expensive I see.

 

[Black_Feather]

My costly bead mistake now lives on my Powderhorn

 

[Loja man]

I don’t know that I could get into collecting them. However I really do like them…. How about some folk show some other ways they use them? To inspire those of us who don’t need to collection, but maybe 2 to 3 on their persona.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Turns out instead of buying a string of Lewis and Clark trade beads, the price was only for one . Was like $14. Turned out it is from 1897. At first I was frustrated, In a way now I’m kind of excited, will make an interesting piece for a pc necklace… Edit: Turns out it is not from 1897 but a reproduction from that year….expensive

Welcome to the world of buying and selling beads.

 

[Scott_C]

The most popular L&C Expedition beads were white and sky-blue, especially sky-blue.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

My costly bead mistake now lives on my Powderhorn View attachment 327875

That bead may be new but it was still hand made by a worker, one at a time over a flame, as they were in the old days.

 

[Mad L]

I don’t know that I could get into collecting them. However I really do like them…. How about some folk show some other ways they use them? To inspire those of us who don’t need to collection, but maybe 2 to 3 on their persona.

My computer is tied up for the night with a CGI project so I can't get to photos right now, but with some various claws and teeth from Moscow Hide & Fur and from Glacier Wear you can come up with great Necklaces and talismans.

I made one necklace with beads, beaver claw and badger claws, another with beads and bear claws.
I have a buckskin thong with some choice beads that hang from my favorite rifle with a shiny pice of silver; it is said (so I heard) that sometimes an Indian would hang a talisman to ward off evil spirits that run up and down the barrel swatting at the ball (bullet) as it comes out.

I did a seed bead piece on a patch of smoked brain tan with a white dove of peace and a wearing heart and wrapped it (laced with brain tan) onto my buckskin rifle sleeve.

I found large Round trade beads (padre beads) worked to secure my imitation hawk feather to my hat band in a way I can easily remove it for when I switch to my winter band (a band made of mule deer hide, fur on, my wife says it looks like a critter nesting on my head).

I have also used beads to accent the tops of 'hair drops' and give them some weight. Hair drops are 'cones' (also available at Crazy Crow and others) that horse hair, deer hair, moose, etc hair pulled up into them, often the hair might be dyed bright colors (I prefer natural)..

There is a website I found once that explained the history of Dream Catchers and some bead color combinations with their meaning, rather interesting.

If you need some claws or teeth (check your local laws before ordering; Moscow is pretty good at stopping you from ordering if you are in one of "those" states - Calif, NY):

https://www.hideandfur.com/inventory/Dressed.html

https://www.glacierwear.com/

 

[BillinOregon]

There was a wonderful introductory article on the history and manufacture of trade beads in one of the early Books of Buckskinning published by Oran Scurlock. I gave my set away or would look it up. I remember being astonished that in a Venice beadmaker's shop, boys would be employed to run as fast as they could, trailing an intricate weave of molten glass that, when cooled, would be cut into beads.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I don't collect them but I do like them. This is the one I wear, made by a Blackfoot gal we met at the Stampede.

 

[No Answers]

Here is a photo of my necklace made mostly of African sand cast beads. The diameters vary up to .80". I was walking around a mountain man show and when viewing wares at a bead vendor the shop owner noticed my necklace and wanted to inspect it. He said they were the largest he had ever seen and had a smaller set in a safe. The bottom is my stalking stick I carved with my totem for "No Answers" . The medallion in the middle is from FCF (Frontiersman Camping Fellowship).

 

[blackhorse]

Be careful and do your research: some advertised as trade beads are African trade beads, not North American trade beads.

I may be mistaken, but didn't many of the beads in early north America come from Africa??. 25 or so years ago, in Friendship some genuine Africans had several tables heaped and I do mean full with chevron beads and various sizes and they seemed to know the value, some still had red dirt on them. Rumor has it that there were "people" robbing graves and just after, there was supposedly laws and regulations put in place to prevent that. I do now know how accurate that is and its been a very long time since I have done any kind of research into that.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

WE DID A BEAD SHOOT ONCE!

Huh?

So there was a side match at a ML shoot. You had to obtain a Venetian Glass Bead, or several before the match. NO they didn't have to be antique originals, but repros as long as they were actually glass were fine. The beads back then at Michaels or Ben Franklin were about a dollar each.

You put one bead on a string or leather thong around your head. You stepped up to the shooting line, and you and a second shooter each handed your bead-necklace to the judge, and then each of you fired once at the target. IF it was paper, the best shot won, but if it was steel, whomever missed, lost. The winner got his necklace back, and the other bead on the other necklace as a prize. IF you both hit the steel, the contest continued, until somebody missed. The judge sometimes after the second or third round would swap the target for a smaller one to increase difficulty.

You could participate as long as you could produce a bead on a string. At the end of the side match some of the fellows had won several beads, and proudly wore them. They could be strung together to make a nice necklace for the winners.

LD

 

[Black_Feather]

WE DID A BEAD SHOOT ONCE!

Huh?

So there was a side match at a ML shoot. You had to obtain a Venetian Glass Bead, or several before the match. NO they didn't have to be antique originals, but repros as long as they were actually glass were fine. The beads back then at Michaels or Ben Franklin were about a dollar each.

You put one bead on a string or leather thong around your head. You stepped up to the shooting line, and you and a second shooter each handed your bead-necklace to the judge, and then each of you fired once at the target. IF it was paper, the best shot won, but if it was steel, whomever missed, lost. The winner got his necklace back, and the other bead on the other necklace as a prize. IF you both hit the steel, the contest continued, until somebody missed. The judge sometimes after the second or third round would swap the target for a smaller one to increase difficulty.

You could participate as long as you could produce a bead on a string. At the end of the side match some of the fellows had won several beads, and proudly wore them. They could be strung together to make a nice necklace for the winners.

LD

Did you ever win any necklaces? That’s a neat idea for a shooting match!

 

[Black_Feather]

Here’s a Couple of my trade necklaces currently over in the classifieds, I got my hands on some reproductionglass padre beads (the dark blue ones) they are like a pre curser to crow beads, as well as some repro Lewis and Clark beads… Not cheap by the way, I figure a couple of these might’ve won over an Indian princess at rendezvous lol.

Here’s a few past ones I sold that hat some bumblebee trade beads and green French luster beads…

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Did you ever win any necklaces? That’s a neat idea for a shooting match!

Nah, most of the shooting was off-hand, and I hadn't practiced. A couple of the guys had nice necklaces when it was over.

LD

 

[Uncle Miltie]

I may be mistaken, but didn't many of the beads in early north America come from Africa??. 25 or so years ago, in Friendship some genuine Africans had several tables heaped and I do mean full with chevron beads and various sizes and they seemed to know the value, some still had red dirt on them. Rumor has it that there were "people" robbing graves and just after, there was supposedly laws and regulations put in place to prevent that. I do now know how accurate that is and its been a very long time since I have done any kind of research into that.

The majority of beads that come from Africa were made elsewhere. Glass and metal beads were made in Asia and Europe and traded into Africa for over 1,000 years.
Beads were a commodity sold and traded all over the world anywhere they could be sold, including North and South America.
When you pick up a fine strand of old venetian beads you can tell in an instant they are substantial and of good quality. Made by hand they were not inexpensive, and those in Africa who had them took care of them and passed them down through their families.
Beads and other valuables were often buried to protect them from theft when not in use.