| Original Message: PROBABLY Dutch Beads! |
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Dear Judy, This is another can-of-worms, about which much has been written. No one knows, for sure, who made these beads! I believe it is highly likely that they were made in Holland, at the beginning of the 18th C., when the industry fell away from making more-elaborate drawn beads that copied Venetian prototypes. However, when I was in Amsterdam, consulting with the archaeological authorities there (The office of the City Archaeologist, in 1992, and 2005), I was told, in no uncertain terms, that they were unsure of either an identification nor a specific time of manufacture. These beads are recovered in Holland, but not in a revealing context. Because they are furnace-wound beads, there are no factory sites and wasters to be found—and such should not be expected. (These sorts of industries differ greatly from factories that rely upon pre-formed elements, and lampwork beadmaking—that generally result in LOTS of waste products to recover archaeologically.) The best evidence for their time and place of manufacture is that they are recovered in parts of the world where the Dutch had considerable trade interests, in the late 17th-early 18th Cs. These are such places as Eastern N. America, and Island SE Asia. So, even then, the evidence is merely suggestive. Let's not mislead anyone with overly positive affirmations about what remains only suggestive. Jamey All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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