{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O84"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT4154/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT4154/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BT4154","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O84/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O84","accessionNumber":"1052-1904","objectType":"Bead","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This glass bead is of the kind known as ‘trade’, ‘aggry’ or, sometimes, ‘slave’ beads. Such beads are usually associated with West Africa but were originally created in Europe, particularly Venice, Bohemia and the Netherlands. The history of trade beads dates to the 15th century when Portuguese trading ships arrived on the coast of West Africa to exploit its many resources, including gold, slaves, ivory and palm oil. At that time, beads were a major part of the currency exchanged for people and products. The beads traded were not of a set form, but were produced according to demand, which could vary from region to region, resulting in many thousands of different designs. The cost of producing the beads declined as glassmaking technologies developed and, for Europeans, the beads provided a cheap and efficient means of exploiting African resources.\r\n\r\nA label attached to this bead notes that it may be an example of a ‘popo’ bead. Little Popo (in today’s Togo) and Grand Popo (in Benin) were settlements on the west coast of Africa, an area commonly known to Europeans as the ‘Slave Coast’ for its importance to the transatlantic slave trade.","physicalDescription":"Single tubular bead of faceted grey-blue glass","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"glass","id":"AAT10797"}],"techniques":[{"text":"glass-working","id":"AAT53929"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Glass","categories":[{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Glass","id":"THES48946"},{"text":"Slavery & Abolitionism","id":"THES49008"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2008BT4154"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"018","id":"THES334738"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Bead","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Venice","id":"x29237"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"3.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"0.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The donor of this bead was Moses Lewin Levin, a London bead merchant whose import-export business operated from 1839 to 1913. Most of the beads he dealt in appear to be Venetian although in 1898 the Levin Company was listed as an importer of Venetian, Bohemian and German beads. The British Museum has an important collection of glass trade beads (including some on sample cards) acquired in 1865 from Lewin Levin. (See – The History of Beads, from 30,000 BC to the Present, Lois Sherr Dubin, London: Thames & Hudson, 1987, p10.)","historicalContext":"The accessions register notes that the bead may be 'a specimen of what is known in West Africa as a \"Popo bead\"'.","briefDescription":"Single glass bead, probably used in European trade in Africa","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Bead made in imitation of the beads in West Africa known as Popo","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["1052-1904"],"accessionNumberNum":"1052","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1904,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-03","recordCreationDate":"1997-12-13","availableToBook":true}}