Wedding Globular Bohemian Trade Beads

The picture is an example; yours will be similar. You are buying one strand.

This strand is not intended to be a ready-to-wear necklace. Although the strand can be worn "as is," the raffia holding it together is not durable and may break with use. For this reason, we recommend that you restring the beads before wearing them.

"Wedding Beads" were made in the Czech Republic specifically for the African trade in the 1950s and started being exported from Africa to the US and Europe in the 1980s.

These beads come in several different shapes, colors, and patterns. One of the most popular shapes is the round teardrop. Another attractive shape is the flat teardrop. "Wedding beads" also were made as flat tabular shapes, stylized claw shapes, and other varieties.

You can read more about these beads in COLLECTIBLE BEADS (Liu) and you can see examples of them being worn in Africa in AFRICA ADORNED (Fisher).

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