North American Auction Company
Live Auction

Fine Montana Collector Sale - April 2023

Sat, Apr 22, 2023 11:00AM EDT
Lot 68

American Indian Antique Exotic Trade Beads

Estimate: $200 - $300

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$50,000 $2,500
The lot features a fantastic collection of Antique to Vintage exotic trade beads from the Native American to African tribes. First in the collection includes fifteen deep red ox blood branch coral beads with three having a branch section with beveled diamond like facets, two round beads, three cylinder beads, on natural polished branch fragment, one cylinder bead, a barrel bead and four traditional large branch beads; the largest appears to be 1”L. Next shows eight red exotic trade beads, one bone hairpipe / hair pipe bead with red painted or dyed coloring, one sand glass section bead, two red white heart round beads, two faceted wound glass semi-transparent red beads on a strand, a barrel glass bead with darker red coloring and a Russian faceted red glass bead. Next shows nineteen blue howlite beads, eighteen of which are round beads (10-11mm) and one free form bead. There are seven wound glass exotic trade beads that are approx. 8mm to 10mm. There are four old polished nuggets, three of which are old Navajo necklace beads that appear to be Morenci Mine Turquoise and one which could be dyed howlite; longest is approx. 29mm. There is one large solid copper or bronze concho / concha medallion which has a deep oxidized green coloring with some cleaned areas on the front exposing the hand engraved design. There are fifteen black exotic glass trade beads which appear to include fourteen black multi-colored Venetian skunk beads and one ridged and faceted black trade bead (skunks are approx. 9mm by 13mm and the single other bead is 12mm by 12mm). Next shows three glass vile tubes filled with glass seed bead in colors of pink, white, amber / gold and iridescent all with an iridescent finish along with several Czech bugle tube small beads; one tube is marked “IG P.5. OR S. Mixed Beads 2003”. Each tube is approx.. 2.25” long by 3/8” wide. One tube of Czech light blue glass tube beads. One glass tube which holds seven polished Garnet beads with deep red-ish purple coloring. One vile or tube of Columbia River Plateau or Northwest Coast Native American beads as well as some red white hearts, a single dentalium number one wampum shell bead, and others. Next there are nineteen silver plated metal hair pipe bead (an elongated tube bead) each are approximately 19.5mm long by 6.5mm wide. One hair pipe plastic bead with halved damage having an iridescent coloring. There are four antique rolled tin cones referred to as dangle or jingle cones, typically seen on Southern Plains, Plains and Northern Plains beadwork of the 19th Century, approximately 20mm long. The lot also shows six Old White Nigerian Goomba glass beads, largest are about 7mm to 9.5mm and the smallest are 5mm by 4mm. Next are four concho / concha beads which appear to be solid brass with a horizontal ridge and unique lime green to yellow coloring, each being about 11mm by 10mm. There are three unidentified beads, two barrel beads with speckled royal blue on white glass and one similar round brown speckled on white glass beads (barrel beads are about 13mm by 10.5mm and the other round bead is 12mm by 9mm). Next includes four African (Kenya) Batiked Bone Banded Large Rondelle Bead which are bone carved with a black / brown design, approximately measures 25.5mm by 13mm. Next to last are five early Venetian Chevron beads, including four Venetian watermelon multiple layer chevron beads (four layers of green, white / cream and pipestone red) and one Venetian striped multiple layer chevrons (five layers of a semi-transparent layer with stripes of cobalt, white and red, white / cream and pipestone red); the longest is 24mm. Lastly there are twenty one wound glass large pony beads with a medium to dark maroon red opaque color and a single semi-transparent red that are approximately 9mm by 6mm. The bead counts and measurements are approximations, please see pictures for correct numbers of beads included. These are displayed in a glass top blacker riker case that is 12.25” by 8.25” and 1 inch thick.