{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O89"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O89/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT4161/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BT4161/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BT4161","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O89/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O89","accessionNumber":"1054-1904","objectType":"Beads","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"These 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, glass 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, as apparent here. 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\nThe numbers of people involved in trading beads for goods, the diversity of bead design and the fact that European glassmakers - and their designs - moved around makes it difficult to link a bead to a specific time and place. Some beads can be given a more precise provenance through dated sample cards, sample books and bead catalogues produced by European bead trading houses in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, now held in museum collections.","physicalDescription":"10 beads of glass: two long octagonal beads of red glass, one triangular ruby-coloured, one long flat bead of aventurine glass, the remainder variegated or coloured spherical beads","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Glass","id":"AAT10797"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Glass, single-coloured and variegated","categories":[{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Glass","id":"THES48946"},{"text":"Slavery & Abolitionism","id":"THES49008"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2008BT4161"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"131","id":"THES49882"},"free":"","case":"85","shelf":"7","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Beads","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Bohemia","id":"x28753"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"19th century","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1900-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"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":"","briefDescription":"10 glass 'trade' beads, made in Bohemia, 19th century, for 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":"Glass beads\r\nEurope, particularly Venice, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and the Netherlands\r\n1830-1910\r\n\r\nThese glass beads are of the kind known as 'trade', 'aggry' or, sometimes, 'slave' beads. Made in Europe for use in trade in West Africa, they were given to the Museum by Moses Lewin Levin, a London bead merchant. The beads were produced according to demand, which could vary from region to region, resulting in many thousands of different designs.\r\n\r\nGlass\r\n\r\nMuseum nos. 4551:1 to 3-1901, 4552:1-1901, 4553:1-1901, 4554:1 to 3-1901, 1051:2 to 4-1904, 1054-1904","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["1054-1904"],"accessionNumberNum":"1054","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1904,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-30","recordCreationDate":"1997-12-13","availableToBook":false}}