| Original Message: The Whole Necklace |
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In examining the large wound Dutch beads—which I did in Holland at the office of the City Archaeologist and viewing the van der Sleen Collection at the Allard Pierson Museum—what I noticed about these beads is that they look very different from the later German beads that are frequently misidentified as "Dutch." For one thing, the German beads are smaller (so much so, I would not call them "big" beads as Stephen did). From an African context (which is from where we see the vast majority of these "Dogon Dutch beads"), the shape is oblate with flattened ends, and the glass is quite translucent dark blue. The accompanying beads are usually colorless, verging on transparent. In contrast, the Dutch beads are typically quite opaque blue. The white beads are not translucent/colorless, but are actually white, and are either feebly translucent (at best) or opaque. Some of these are or may be girasol glass (translucent opaline dichroic glass that is bluish in reflected light, and veers toward yellow or orangy in transmitted light). Although there I have not seen any translucent dark blue beads from the Dutch production, of spheroidal or ovoidal shapes, I am aware that there were some wound beads with pentagonal (paddled) facets as well as other simple shapes, made from translucent blue glass. The drawn beads seen here are very dark blue, and almost pass for black. There is no way of knowing if they date from the same time as the wound beads—and in fact are most likely earlier. The star bead is just a slice from a cane—whereas the majority of Dutch rosetta beads were heat-rounded a-speo. But the cane itself is the same. More, another time. Jamey All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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