Trade Beads Page

This page contains mostly "bead" items which fall into 6 different categories 
1) Trade beads, glass beads manufactured in various European countries
    and used for trade between the Europeans and the Native Americans,
    mostly from the 18th through 19th centuries
2) Shell beads, used by the Native Americans as adornment and/or
    inter-tribal bartering. These come in two different forms
   A) Whole shells often strung into a necklace
   B) "Pieces" of shell, (especially the Abalone shell) which were "cut" into
        various shapes and drilled for pendants or necklaces, many of these
        were also "incised" by the natives for additional decoration
3) Dentalium, a conical-shaped shell used as "Wampum" money,
    especially in the western coastal states
4) Metallic, often tubular beads which were made by the Native Americans
    after first contact with the Europeans, and which were made from many
    different European metallic items, such as rifle parts and even old files
5) Stone beads, which are VERY old and were mostly for adornment
6) "Beaded" items such as purses having intricate beadwork are also grouped
    on this page
 
For other "Ornamental" items and pendants, please visit our "Bone & Shell"
pages. These contain more elaborate incised and carved ornamental pendants
made from bone, stone or shells

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
JFTB5 A gorgeous LONG 49" strand of Recovered in 350.00
Russian faceted Trade Beads in a most Northern California
pleasant variety of sizes and colors. (Name of finder to buyer)
(Some are iridescent!)

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
JFTB6 A very long, 34" strand of Recovered in 550.00
ground and polished Clam Shell Northern California
Beads in excellent condition (Name of finder to buyer)

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB1420 A VERY long (60") strand of drilled and polished Found in 350.00
Anasazi stone micro-beads. These are just unbelievable Navajo Co., AZ

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
DFTB1 A very lengthy (approx. 52") strand   Recovered on Blalock 120.00
of somewhat corroded rolled copper Island, Oregon in 1962
necklace beads in average condition
with normal corrosion and chipping.
A very rare find!

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
RUTB1 A very nice and quite scarce 15-3/8" strand of Found in Eastern 450.00
soap stone disc beads in excellent condition. I Mariposa Co., CA
can only imagine the labor intensive effort which
went into making each one of these individually.

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
SATB1 A very nice 14-1/2" strand of teeny Found in 120.00
tiny white, red and dark blue "Pony  Lake Co., CA
beads" in excellent condition. (It has
one single pinkish lavender pony
bead shown in photo 4)

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB1211 An Anasazi drilled shell pendant, From an old collection 175.00
Ca. 1000-1200 A.D. Published in gathered in Arizona
Lar Hothem's Ornamental Indian and Utah
Artifacts, pg. 458, plate 1

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
RMTB1 An Exquisite and Extremely RARE delicate Recovered in 1,600.00
Mogollon 18" drilled steatite and turquoise bead Navajo Co., AZ
necklace in perfect condition and having a gorgeous (Anasazi Territory)
steatite Bird Effigy which is highly polished and
totally intact, created by a master craftsman who
really knew what he was doing. It dates between
1150 and 1275 A.D. and comes with a Hyatt SOP

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB364 A very nice 29-3/4" strand of highly polished Found in 1,200.00
and drilled blue-black steatite disc-shaped Contra Costa Co., CA
beads with a single double hourglass shaped
bead. Quite a rare offering

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
JFTB6 A very encrusted and rusted Recovered by Charles Hall 20.00
and scarce metal Trade Bracelet at The Dalles, OR  

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
JFTB4 A highly attractive 24" strand of assorted The Dalles, OR 225.00
red and blue trade beads having at least 2
types which we've never offered in the past Ex: Hanning

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
TMTB5 A Rare 30" strand of Clamshell disc beads Collected in the early 1950's 425.00
each measuring between 3/8" to 1/2", in Shasta County, CA.
bi-conically drilled with polished edges Full Provenance to Buyer

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB1019 A very nice 28" strand of green and All recovered in 200.00
clear medium sized facetted Russian Northern California
trade beads with 3 sky blue beads.
All in excellent condition. Published
in Lar Hothem's Ornamental Indian
Artifacts, page 293, plate 1, number 1 7/20 ON-HOLD js

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB1021 A nice 26" strand of ground ovular Recovered in 200.00
biconically drilled olivella shell beads Santa Clara Co., CA
each averaging 1/4" to 3/8" in diameter. by L.L. Valdivia
They are published in Lar Hothem's
Ornamental Indian Artifacts, page 280,
plate 3, number 1

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB1022 A very outstanding and rare 32" strand of Recovered in 325.00
approximately 712 Olivella shell beads which  Contra Costa Co., CA
have been ground to square and rectangular by L.L. Valdivia
shapes and biconically drilled. These are quite 
attractive and seldom offered for sale anywhere.
Published in Lar Hothem's Ornamental Indian
Artifacts, page 280, plate 2 number 2

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB1024 WOW !... a whopping 35" strand of a Recovered from across 3 states, 375.00
great variety of trade beads, many rare Washington, Oregon and California
and larger types with many hand-painted
floral themes as well. Published in Lar
Hothem's Ornamental Indian Artifacts,
page 293, plate 3, number 2

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB945 A good sized mottled greenish-gray, tan Recovered in Santa 120.00
and brown drilled steatite bead having Barbara Co., CA
the normal surface cracking and (Chumash territory)
scratches, but still intact. It is published
in Lar Hothem's Ornamental Indian
Artifacts, page 281, plate 2, number 3

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB946 A very nice, highly polished jet black  Recovered in Santa 120.00
drilled steatite bead which has a major ding Barbara Co., CA
to one side near the end (5/8" long) as well (Chumash territory)
as to the top of 1 lip (3/16" wide) It is
published in Lar Hothem's Ornamental
Indian Artifacts, page 281, plate 2, number 2

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB948 A very large black and green steatite bead Recovered in Santa 120.00
which has 2 minor pitted sections to the Barbara Co., CA
surface and 1 minor scratch near one end (Chumash territory)
(bottom of photo 4) It is published in Lar
Hothem's Ornamental Indian Artifacts,
page 281, plate 2, number 1

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB646 A 33-1/2" strand of medium - large Recovered from a site near 135.00
white pony glass trade beads. Grimes in Colusa Co., CA 
Published in Lar Hothem's
Ornamental Indian Artifacts, page
293, plate 4, number 2 Ex: Michael Hough

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB649 A nice 36" strand of white Recovered near 135.00
pony trade beads in a great Grimes in
variety of assorted sizes Colusa Co., CA
Ex: Michael Hough

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
DGTB11 A very nice 32" strand of very Northern California - Purchased 120.00
old white and off-white glass from an estate auction where the
trade beads in excellent condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection 
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB12 A highly attractive and totally intact beaded wrist Undocumented, most likely 225.00
guard used as decorative apparel for dances. Southwestern in origin
Age is estimated as being from the 1920's and
the beautiful sky-blue opalescent, red, green,
yellow and blue beads have the original sinew
fiber stringing as well as the original leather end
clasps. Quite a scarce collector's item

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
JFTB2 A most interesting 30" strand having a    Found by Dick Hanning 115.00
VERY NICE assortment of different on the Columbia River
tradebead types which includes very near The Dalles, OR
small facetted Russians, black and tan
seed beads and much more, including
one white cylindrical bead

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
DWTB1 A nice 22" strand of white Recovered from a 85.00
and red glass trade beads Nevada desert campsite

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB1 A very nice 30" strand of very Northern California - Purchased 100.00
old white and off-white glass from an estate auction where the
trade beads in excellent condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection 
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB2 A very nice 34" strand of white Northern California - Purchased f 105.00
and iridescent blue-white glass rom an estate auction where the
trade beads in excellent condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB3 A very nice 36" strand of white Northern California - Purchased 120.00
and iridescent blue-white glass from an estate auction where the 
trade beads in excellent condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB4 A very nice 30" strand of white Northern California - Purchased 100.00
and iridescent blue-white glass from an estate auction where the 
trade beads in excellent condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB5 A very nice and attractive 30"  Northern California - Purchased 115.00
  strand of red, lavender and white from an estate auction where the   
pony trade beads in excellent documentation listing specific site
condition information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB6 A very nice 29" strand of white Northern California - Purchased 100.00
and iridescent blue-white glass from an estate auction where the 
trade beads in excellent condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB7 A highly attractive 35" strand of Northern California - Purchased 110.00
  mostly white and tan with a from an estate auction where the   
couple of black and red pony documentation listing specific site
trade beads in excellent condition information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB8 A very nice 37" strand of white Northern California - Purchased 120.00
and red glass trade beads in from an estate auction where the 
excellent condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB9 A very nice 31" strand of white Northern California - Purchased 90.00
and red with black centers glass from an estate auction where the 
trade beads in good condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
GBTB10 A very nice 23" strand of pure Northern California - Purchased 85.00
white pony trade beads in from an estate auction where the 
excellent condition documentation listing specific site
information was lost; these came 
from a HUGE Pre-World War II
Northern Californian collection
and judging by the way the
collection was packaged by the
finder, it is assumed that he went
off to war and never returned

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB247 A very long 36" strand of white, From northeastern 85.00
purple and red venetian trade beads California
    Ex: M. Hough  

Item: Type: Provenance: Price
MHTB248 A 34" strand of white From northeastern 85.00
venetian glass trade beads California
    Ex: M. Hough  

End of  Trade Beads page

Count 37

 

 
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