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Caucausus region/Black Sea coast, Anapa, ca. 200 BCE for the large bronze bead; Northern Europe, Viking/Norse culture, ca. 9th to 11th century CE for the glass beads. A beautiful strand of glass beads made during the Viking period with a large, lozenge-shaped spiral bronze bead made in the Greek colony of Anapa – strung in modern times but from all ancient beads. The Viking beads are a variety of colors: blues, whites, reds, greens, and the occasional yellow and brown; some are translucent, but most are opaque. A wearable and beautiful piece. Size: 21.85″ L x 0.6″ W x 2.9″ H (55.5 cm x 1.5 cm x 7.4 cm)
By 800 CE, the Vikings were trading across a huge area, from the islands of the North Atlantic (the first glass beads known from North America appear to have come from the Viking trading post at L’anse aux Meadow, Newfoundland) to northern Russia and the Islamic world; glass beadmaking was a standard in many of the regions they visited, and so they returned home and established beadmaking workshops in Scandinavia and traded them at the great trading emporia like Hedeby or Birka. Beads were often worn as festoons strung between oval brooches, though sometimes also as necklaces.
Condition: Modern stringing and clasp. Smooth, bright green patina on surface of spiral bead. Glass beads have signs of age, with some surface chipping.
Provenance: private Orange County, California, USA collection
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