lopacki Posted August 15, 2013 Report Share Posted August 15, 2013 Marble beads from the African and Asian tradeI have been a bead collector for nearly forty years and one of the most desirable to me and most collectors are the German marbles that were finished off as beads for trade in Africa and Asia.My question do any of you marble collectors have any marble beads in your collections? If so I would truly like to see images of what you have.I have included two images of some of the as made beads for those that have never seen them.All my best ......... Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wediscount2 Posted August 15, 2013 Report Share Posted August 15, 2013 Marble beads from the African and Asian trade I have been a bead collector for nearly forty years and one of the most desirable to me and most collectors are the German marbles that were finished off as beads for trade in Africa and Asia. My question do any of you marble collectors have any marble beads in your collections? If so I would truly like to see images of what you have. I have included two images of some of the as made beads for those that have never seen them. All my best ......... Danny Danny, Those are really nice beads. Hansel, here on this board has some of those. I'm sure there are other's on the board who have some as well. Ronnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted August 15, 2013 Report Share Posted August 15, 2013 Oh neat. I had a corkscrew bead once which I didn't hang onto because I let it get dinged up and I didn't like being reminded that the damage was my fault. Wish I still had it. I don't think it was for trade. Just mentioning it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clydetul62 Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 They dont appear too often. I have seen one necklace all matching where they were graduating size similar to an pearl necklace. That was about 10 yrs ago. The biggest on the bottom was about 1 1/4". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lstmmrbls Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 Lee Linne of the IAMC marble club has a rather large collection of the beads. I believe he has also written an article about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green gazer Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 Very nice ! Could you please give a short history lesson on who traded with who and what they traded for. I have heard they were traded for slaves. Thanks for showing ! VT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 The Europeans were the first who traded with South-Africa and India. It's said the Portuquese were the first Europeans who arrived in South-Africa. The bead trades began about 1500,the exchange was not only slaves but also for goods,such as,ivory-gold-coffe-tea and herbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckEye Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 The last morphy marble auction or the one before had a whole page of these for sale with pics (25) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopacki Posted August 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 As I am far from an expert on this type bead if you'd like to know more about their history the best place to go is beadcollector.net and do a search on German marble beads, they have been quite a topic over the years so there is plenty of information on them. All my best ..... Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lstmmrbls Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 Found the Great Article by LEE LINNE http://www.tasart.com/uploads/MARBLE_BEADS_Article.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 Thanks for the link, Galen. It is a nice article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 Lopacki,didn't read your post 1 very well and was answering post 6 LOL. Thought this topic was about the early bead trades,apparently it's about the German marbles that were made in to beads. Galen thats a nice site. Here's a site about the early trade beads. http://www.ezakwantu.com/Gallery%20Trade%20Beads%20Slave%20Beads%20African%20Currency.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sissydear Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 I have recently been given an extensive collection of trade beads. I have Venetian glass, Czech glass, and African glass beads. None of them are the German hand made looking marble beads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1313 Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 heres a strand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanco Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 I got this in a jar of common marbles from a flea market. When I first saw it I though it was a striped transparent of some sort. Now i think it is Czech. It is 5/8" I can't tell if it was made as a bead or drilled somehow. I don't know if it is old enough to be considered a trade bead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 I got this in a jar of common marbles from a flea market. When I first saw it I though it was a striped transparent of some sort. Now i think it is Czech. It is 5/8" I can't tell if it was made as a bead or drilled somehow. I don't know if it is old enough to be considered a trade bead. Pretty. That article Galen linked mentioned something called hot punching. Would you say yours has a "slightly tapered hole"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 I have recently been given an extensive collection of trade beads. I have Venetian glass, Czech glass, and African glass beads. None of them are the German hand made looking marble beads. Would love to see 'em! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swissmarble Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 Would love to see 'em! Yeah, me too ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanco Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 Steph, the hole looks to be the same all the way through the marble. If there is a taper, it is too slight to notice. The ends of the hole are smooth like they had been fire polished or something. One end is slightly indented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 Well with my newly found expertise (cough cough lol cough) I'm going to guess "slightly indented" and smooth might mean hot punched. It just makes so much sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sissydear Posted August 17, 2013 Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 I haven't unpacked the beads yet. I am working on the marbles and the Akro general line and children's dishes. I have now opened the box and shown them to a relative. I'll get some pics and post them soon. I know very little about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopacki Posted August 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2013 1313 Thank you for showing that wonderful strand. For Flanco your bead is drilled, the indent is caused by pressure from the drill at the bottom of the marble when it is being drilled. These images are of a hot punched marble, notice how the color got pushed back into the marble when pierced and on the backside its pretty much smooth. Yes I did start this topic on German marble beads that were traded not trade beads in general, trade beads is another topic that is best investigated off of this thread. All my best ...... Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdesousa Posted August 18, 2013 Report Share Posted August 18, 2013 Well with my newly found expertise (cough cough lol cough) I'm going to guess "slightly indented" and smooth might mean hot punched. It just makes so much sense. Steph, I'm willing to bet that hot punching a hole into a small sphere of malleable glass is impossible to do without grossly distorting the sphere. Not being a glass worker, someone should try to prove me wrong. Flanco's bead was probably made by fusing the two halves over a mandrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdesousa Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Lopacki,didn't read your post 1 very well and was answering post 6 LOL. Thought this topic was about the early bead trades,apparently it's about the German marbles that were made in to beads. Galen thats a nice site. Here's a site about the early trade beads. http://www.ezakwantu.com/Gallery%20Trade%20Beads%20Slave%20Beads%20African%20Currency.htm wow, great site Winnie. Best I've seen on the subject. Any idea where Gallery Ezakwantu is located? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Site feedback indicates they are at the Village Centre, Huguenot Road, Franschhoek, South Africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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