What Are Trade Beads?
Trade beads are an ancient custom that is revamped every couple hundred years for a new client base. These are beads used like money in cultures that have no currency, allowing more industrialized societies to trade with them. They have been used all over the world since ancient Egypt, including Africa and North America during colonial times. Now these antique beads and replicas thereof are collected and used in jewelry, much like they were by the cultures that took them in trade.
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Early History
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Beadwork is evident in ancient Egyptian art dating back to 2200 BC. Ancient people used shell, bone, wood and other natural materials to create beads and strung them together by hand to create jewelry. Such jewelry was believed to ward of evil as well as enhance the wearer's looks. By 1600 AD, beadwork had spread throughout the world and was a symbol of wealth and status in many cultures.
Africa
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Beadwork is still prized in many cultures. When Europeans began trading with African tribes, they used beads as a bartering object. Most African tribes had no currency, but understood trade and the value of gold and other beautiful objects. European beads were mostly colorful glass, and bead makers created patterns specifically for trade with Africa. The Chevron pattern was one of these, and consisted of a multicolored bead that appeared striped on the side but displayed a star shape at the ends.
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North America
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Native American beads were made of turquoise and other stones before glass trade beads. Christopher Columbus introduced the concept of trade beads to North America, and fur traders later carried the custom on. Native Americans already appreciated beads before the European settlers came, and the concept of trade beads caught on with many tribes. They valued different patterns than African tribespeople, and the North American trade beads had to be made differently. The beads used in trade in the Americas tended to be simpler, often in blue or white rather than in patterns.
European Bead Makers
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Most trade beads in the colonial periods were made in Europe. The Italian city of Venice specialized in bead-making, with many glassblowers operating on the nearby island of Murano to prevent the glass furnaces from setting Venice on fire if they exploded. Glass bead-making was lucrative but dangerous. When the demand for trade beads grew too great for Murano to handle, Czechoslovakian apprentices took their craft home and surpassed Italy in production by the mid-1800s.
Modern Uses
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Most societies no longer use trade beads in barter, although many still value beadwork as a symbol of their culture, wealth or status. Antique beads have found a new use, however. Beginning in the 1960s, interest in beads picked up as people began to travel the world more extensively. Trade beads became a fashion statement with the "hippie" movement. The antiques continue to be popular with collectors, beaded jewelry enthusiasts and people who wish to get in touch with their cultural roots.
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References
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