We are celebrating a new drop of antique and vintage beads today. I thought it would be helpful to share a bit about how we classify our beads.
We consider antique beads pre-1920s and vintage beads post 1920's to 2000. These definitions will not shift with the definitions of vintage/antique as time continues, since they correlate directly to bead makers and bead-making techniques. There are multiple eras of antique beads, but most of our antique beads will be from the late 1800s to early 1900s, as they are slightly more uniform in size. Very old beads had quite a lot of variation in size, and we won't carry them (unless a miracle happens), since they are super rare and hard to find.
Contemporary beads are typically Czech or Japanese. We have a small remaining inventory of Sheen Beads (Czech beads finished in India) that we will not restock. We still love the quality of these beads, and use them frequently ourselves, but want to transition to selling mostly vintage/antique in our shop.
All of our beads are colourfast, meaning the colours of the beads will not change over time, allowing bead workers to make heirloom pieces that will stand the test of time, just like our ancestors did.
The sizing is all supplier-listed sizing and will not correlate to contemporary bead sizes today. If you would like a beads-per-inch measurement, please send us an email or DM on instagram and we'd be happy to provide more information.
You may have noticed an increase in our pricing for some newly listed items. This is the first time we have raised prices in 5 years of operation. Our beads are still priced lower than most folks since we sell mostly in 20g portions. This is to account for increasing prices in everything these days, from labour to travel and our purchasing prices.
Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
TT