China chevron beads (large)

Classic Chevron Necklace –China– (origin: Koforidua, Ghana)

Unlike mosaic beads, whose origin is lost in the mists of time, chevrons had their origin in a workshop on the island of Murano, where the master glassmaker Margherita Barovier had the good taste of imagining them back in the year 1480. When five years later the Portuguese built the Castelo da Mina, the Akan miners of the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) did not hesitate to accept the beautiful seven-faceted blue beads arrived from Venice as payment for their precious metals.

From then until 1950 million chevrons of seven, six or four facets would leave the island of Murano bound for African ports. After that year, the Venetian kilns would take another direction and chevrons would cease to be the prime donne of their Italian glass industry, leaving in the hands of Chinese or Indian manufacturers the noble task of continuing to supply the wealthy African classes with these wonderful murrine.

The necklace we present consists of 47 four-layer blue chevrons (17 mm in length; 14 mm in Ø) made in China and strung on 1 meter cotton cord.

Weight: 260g