4: . The journal of the Center for Bead Research Volume 12, Number 1 Issue 27 1999 (1 of2) • The Venetian Bead ~.~ MARGARETOlO~ .~ Story, Part 2: The Beads Quick reference chart to Venetian glass beads . The Beads Venetian History 7th c Torcello glass 1296 first recorded glass beads d. 1460 Barovier; cristallo, latticino 1486- Margaretari and Patemostri founded ·1480 ~ 7-layered Chevrons - 1610 1480 "Newly discovered" 1520 - Nueva cadiz - 1610 1510 Glass beads ''born'' 1550 • Gooseberry - 1900 1528 Supialume founded 1560 - Early Blues - 1750 . A speo method becomes very popular 1576-1614 Antonio Neri 1570 - Flush Eyes - 1635 1575 Drnwn with 3 sets ofmultiple stripes - 1620 4 sets ofstripes = 17th c.; wound with stripes = 19th c. 1600 - 415-layered chevrons, green, a speo, striped. flattened 1600 - Green Hearts - 1836 1600 - Blue-white-blue and White-clear-white - 1690 1647 Supialume on par 1600 - "Old whites" clear over white - 1890 with other two guilds • 17th century dominated by drawn monochromes 1677 Miotti, aventurine Seedbeads, including charlottes, important trade items 1685 De Aura gold ruby 1725 - Squiggle design. 1899+ 1718 Venice loses much Lampworking grows in importance of her empire 1750 - Barleycorns -1840 1797 loses rest ofempire 1820 - Goldstone decoration - present 1820s-1860s seed bead 1830 - Wound white! yellow hearts - 18701 finishing mechanized 1839 - White hearts - present 1840 - Microbeads - 1900 1843 - Bussolin patents Difforences in trading patterns: gas lamp for lamp­ America - spiral designs, spots winding Africa - "eyes," yellow bases 1845-65 Battista mosaics West Africa, Borneo - imitations 1860 - "New glass," combing -1900 1860s Jablonec at zenith 1860 - Maccas, 2/3-cuts, irising!lustering 1860s Molds introduced 1900 - Bundled millefiories - 1920 1910s WWI 1920 - Molded miUefiories - present 1917 Conterie founded 1920 - "Bumpy yellows"- 1940 1920s drawing (seed 1930 - Swirled glass - 1940 beads) mechanized 1930 - Tight spirals- 1940 Many lamp types until WW II 1945 lost WW II 1992 - End of seed bead making 1992 Conterie closed The MARGARETOLOOIST is published twice a year with the most current information on bead research, primarily our own. USA: Members: $3{)/2 years, Patrons: $8012 years, SupporterS: $20012 years. Foreign: $35, $90, $210. • Upper levels receive more privileges. EIIIire COIlIents ® 1999 Peter FI'IIIICis, Ir. Reproduction forbidden in any form without written permission ISSN 08921 989 Center for Bead Research, 4 Essex St., Lake Placid, NY 12946·1:236 Phone (518) 523·1794 E-mail [email protected] Web. site: www.thebeadsite..com The Margaretologist Vol. 12, No. 1 Issue 27 1999 ). BEAD EXPO 2000 will be held in late March in Santa Fe, NM. o This is the second part of "The Venetian ). If you would like to help illustrate.my up­ Bead Story," concentrating on the beads coming books, please contact me. made by the Venetian glass industry over ). Want to take a Bead Tour? Where? the last 500 years. When? We will tailor tours for you and It was instructive doing these two issues. small groups. Contact me. Several scholars have expanded our under­ standing of the history of Venetian glass Don't forget to visit us at beadmaking, but even more new data is www.thebeadsite.com - go to GaI­ available about the beads themselves, and leriesto Gee the graphics related to this issue highlights that new information. issue 12(1) of the Margareta/ogist. To understand fully the Venetian beads in this issue, you should have a good ground­ ing in the history of Venetian glass bead- :::> 16 Jan. - 10 May '99 Research, consulting, making. I urge you to read over the last leduring Sri Lanka and India. issue before proceeding with this one. In :::> 26 June - 26 July Bead Society of Great particular, there are specialized terms that Britain (Ledure, WorkshOp); South Asian Archaeology conference, Leiden; research . should be mastered to develop a full appre­ in France and Germany. ciation ofthese beads. Since they were dis­ March 2000 - BEAD EXPO, Santa cussed in the last issue (11:2), they are not redefined here. Send us your email address. A feature not in my earlier books is the ...J If the last digits on your mailing label distdbution pattern of these beads. For the are 12:1, it's time to renew. first few centuries, there was little differ­ ...J Notify ys 9f any address changes. h ed b' ...J Each class of membership receives free ence In w ere beads were trad ., . ut In the advertising space and free Bead Identifi­ 19th century, trade patterns became crucial. cation Certificates or Research Reports. Finally, a word about St. Catherines, ...J Memberships make wonderful presents. which is often cited here without reference " Encourage your Bead Society, Shop or to publications. Santa Catalina de Guale .institution to support us and all bead re­ was the northerrullost Spanish mission search groups. along the Atlantic coast, on St. Catherines The Margm Carey "Gotcha" Award goes to Island, Georgia, a barrier island about the the person who spots the most errors per is­ size (and shape) of Manhattan. From 1587 sue. One point for a typo, two for an error of to 1680, an active Franciscan mission oper­ fad. The award has be.en extended/,to The Bead Site. Guess who won for 10(2): ated there, bringing the message of a new (page/column/paragraphltine) religion to the Guales. For over two dec­ 4/21213 lightning, not lightening ades, David Hurst Thomas of the American 121211/3 almandine, not almadine Museum of Natural History has been exca­ 13/116/3 add period at end. 13/1nl2 Rasmussen not Ramussen vating the site. I have been working with 13/1/1112 Glass: Chinese, not Glass Chinese the beads, and a book on them (co­ bEad-Mailis the electronic newsletter of authored with Lori Pendleton) is scheduled the Center and thebeadSite.com. It is sent within a year. A complete report will fol­ out about monthly. If you would like to re­ low, but the beads are incorporated here for ceive it, simply click on the link ontbe home page or send your email address to the 17th century. northnet.or • o 2 The Margaretologist Vol. 12, No.1 Issue 27 1999 • The Venetian Bead Story 2 The evidence here is divided into cen­ The history of Venice,· her glass industry turies, an arbitrary but useful distinction. and her glass bead industry was presented A bead is discussed in detail when first · in the last issue. This issue concentrates met and its range of dates noted. If it on the beads themselves. continues unaltered, no more notice of it will be taken. Plain, monochrome beads Venice was the leading glass beadmaker are the most common at all times and · ofEurope for five centuries and an under­ these are rarely distinguished here. Also · standing of modern beads begins with her keep in mind that during the 17th century, products: We can assign dates for most of Holland was a major beadmaker and her het important bead types, at least tenta­ output was similar to that of Venice. tively. The data for a chronology comes To help the narrative flow, details of refer­ .. from several sources each with its own ences are set in slightly smaller type and off­ limitations. These sources are: set from the text, in the manner of this para­ 1. Historical references to bead­ graph. Numbers in the Kidd Classification I making ortbe trade. To rely on state­ system (Kidd and Kidd 1970) are set in ments about the origin of beads we must square brackets []. Other writer's type consider their credibility. When Abbot numbers follow a # sign. Zanetti, for example, talks about changes he witnessed we can believe him, but oth­ ers mayor may not be so well informed. 2. Bead sample cards have the ad­ vantage of presenting the beads for study. Although the first Venetian beads were • furnace-wound, few, if any, were traded Unfortunately, few are dated. Some were made by or for dealers and have beads abroad. By the time Columbus met ~~Indi­ from different sources. Others have beads ans" and Vasco de GaIna met real Indians, to show what could be made if a demand Venetian beadmakers were· building an for their revival arose. The Center's own early industrial system to turn out large large collection (though few are Venetian) quantities of beads to meet the growing and our research of other collections has demand of the widened world Europe was proven invaluable. discovering. The earliest of these beads, 3. Arcbaeological evidence is helpfu~ at least in the American trade, were Pa­ especially from American sites and in­ temostri products (see the last issue) and creasingly elsewhere. Again, caution is many were quite complex. necessary... A bead from a dated locale The priority of drawn· trade beads over may have been used then, but at other wound ones is seen in the Seneca sequence of New Yark, where wound beads hardly times as well. Heirlooms may be lost long appear until 1687-1710 (Wray 1983:45) and after production stopped. Small objects along the Susquehanna River at the end of such as beads migrate upwards or down­ the 1690-1750 period (Kent 1983: 81). The wards in soR throwing off dates. Surface same pattern is in West Africa (Francis finds are often misleading, sometimes 1993:8). In East Africa at Kilwa, Tanzania, , wildly so. A bead from a single site is far wound beads were "extremely rare" until the less secure than many from several sites. 18th century (Chittick 1974:480). and earlier • ones there may not have been European. 3 The Margaretologist Vol. 12, No. 1 Issue 27 1'999 The most famous Venetian bead is the unpublished manuscript.