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Beads

Early 17th Century Italian “chevron” bead traded to the Iroquois in New York.

WHERE DID THE INDIANS GET THEIR BEADS?

This is the question asked most often by our visitors. While American Indians made some beads from shell, stone, bone, and even metal, the brightly colored glass beads sewn to Indian clothing in such intricate patterns were all made by Europeans.

The European bead industry was centered in Murano near Venice, Italy, during the Middle Ages. Billions of Venetian beads in a rainbow of colors and a variety of sizes, shapes, and patterns poured into the African, Middle Eastern, and American trade. Other bead-making centers sprang up in Bohemia and Holland, but Venice maintained its dominance of the market until the twentieth century. Today the Czech Republic and Japan are leading producers of those little glass seed beads.

Late 19th century Cree Indian bag made entirerly from trade goods.

Pipe bag of Big Bear, a leader in the 1885 Canadian Riel Rebellion.

Late 19th century Oglala Sioux pipe bag

The Northwest Gun | Textiles | Beads | Trade Silver | And More!