Featured Need help identifying beads

Hello! I have more beads from my great-grandma’s stash (likely from the 40s-50s). I really like these, they are kinda different/funky. They have a decent weight, not what I would expect from a cheaper plastic bead. She had already strung them like for a rosary, without the finishing parts.

Any suggestions as to make/history?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Kate

 

Lovely. Maybe Czech?
@Ownedbybear , @Lucille.b , @KSW .

 

Glass givre beads

Bicentennial colors but may be earlier

 

you're great granny strung those beads , with that wire work.....like that...???

I would have liked to have been there to see that.....

 

Gorgeous beads, you mention plastic but they do look like glass? I want to say Givre beads but I’m not sure if I’m correct as I think Givre have a cloud of colour inside a clear bead rather than solid? Ownedbybear will put me right.
Can you take a close up of a bead?
By the way @Any Jewelry i’m bouncing up and down at being tagged by youYour faith that I may be able to help is misguided but it’s made my day
The facets look quite sharp which makes me think they might be older as more modern ones seem to have the softer facets but again, I’m not sure if I’m right

 

You're a bead afficionada, and are definitely on the way to becoming an expert.

 

Are they glass or plastic? Givre is indeed clouder, I'd perhaps call them sommerso.

 

I’m just flying on your coattails
You were by my side today squealing ‘grab those!’ when I spied some more of those Yemeni black coral silver inlaid delights in a £1 little bag at the charity shop

 

Also honored to be tagged.

Mark my word these are glass. Beautiful with those secondary colors. Quite unusual.

With those metal links, got to think 1950s or earlier. Also not impossible this strand came off of a rosary in the first place. I've seen some pretty fabulous glass beads on rosaries, and some have had similar metal links.

Very nice.

 

Of course I tagged you!

 

I tried to take a couple of close ups. I don’t think they are plastic, I think they are too heavy for that, but I didn’t know if glass or something else? My great grandma was a home crafter.. she made rosaries, necklaces, etc. She lived 1885-1971, so it would have to be in that range somewhere, I was guesstimating 40s-50s.

I’ve posted here before some of her other beads (black faceted obsidian, porcelain millefiore), I’m fortunate to have inherited her supplies which I’ve been gradually sorting and repurposing.

 

That's not difficult to do. The little chain parts probably were already made and salvaged from another necklace, but the actual straight pins going through the beads isn't difficult if you have the little tool to wrap them around into a circle.

 

like I said...I would have liked to have been there to watch her !!

 

Czech glass and I think they started out like that.

 

Same here. Making those metal links on your own is a ...bear ... far better to find some the Czechs assembled for you.

 

I've quite a few similar strands.

 

Thank you to everyone for the comments! I hadn't really considered that she could have bought beads already strung for a rosary, like already in a set, I didn't know that was a thing. Her collection had finished rosaries, some in-process rosaries (like the strung beads and then sterling silver pieces separate she would have used to finish), and also simply loose beads and some necklaces and things she had made. I've really enjoyed slowly working my way through her things.

She had, like, seven sets of sterling silver rosary findings that I thought were beautiful in their designs. They had sat for so many years in storage, I knew I would never use them as rosaries and initially tried to sell them (no takers). But I felt it would be a shame to simply sell them for the silver, so I ended up working with a jewelry artist who used them to create a series of pieces that preserved the vintage design elements. Really worked well with my love of upcycling

For these beads I was thinking how best to reuse... maybe a long strand with cobalt blue spacers?

 

Lovely beads. I would wear them as is but thats just me
Having said that...my place is overflowing with unworn jewelry...My jewel of preference that I choose to wear is almost always my latest acquisition but if you keep on buying that never ends well

 

I have done it, it is easy, although it is safer if you use bead caps as well. Without bead caps you have to be careful, but it isn't difficult.

I use round-nose pliers.

Ditto.