For Sale - Antique Venetian glass trade bead necklace with 31 feature beads and matching earrings, professionally restrung from historic trade beads.

This necklace comprises thirty-one antique Venetian glass trade beads arranged as the principal decorative elements of a professionally restrung necklace, accompanied. Venetian trade beads were manufactured in Venice, Italy, primarily for export to Africa, Asia and the Americas, where they became important exchange items and continue to be highly regarded by collectors of ethnographic material and historic beadwork.

The beads were individually handmade using traditional Venetian glassworking techniques before being restrung into their present wearable form. The necklace displays the characteristic variations in colour, form and surface expected from antique glass beads, while the accompanying earrings complement the overall presentation. Restrung examples such as this allow historic beads to be appreciated both as collectible objects and as wearable decorative art.

Circa: Late 19th to early 20th century (beads); later professional restringing.

Provenance: Egon Guenther Collection. By family descent to the Thomas Guenther Collection.

Measurements: Necklace length: 59 cm. Largest feature bead: approximately 6 cm. Thirty-one antique Venetian glass feature beads with matching earrings.

Weight: Necklace 117 g.