{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O87"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O87/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT4155/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT4155/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BT4155","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O87/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O87","accessionNumber":"1053-1904","objectType":"Bead","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"These blue glass beads are of the kind known as ‘trade’, ‘aggry’ or, sometimes, ‘slave’ beads. They 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 the beads notes that they may be examples of ‘popo’ beads. 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":"2 beads of grey-blue glass, rounded tubular form","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":["2008BT4155"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"018","id":"THES334738"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Beads","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Venice","id":"x29237"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"0.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approximately","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The donor of these beads 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 have been 'made in imitation of the beads known in West Africa as \"Popo beads\"'.","briefDescription":"2 glass beads, 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":["1053-1904"],"accessionNumberNum":"1053","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1904,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-03","recordCreationDate":"1997-12-13","availableToBook":true}}