Looking over the History of French Beads

Hello all, 

Since the beginning of this semester, I have been working on the research for my presentation on glass beads for the Society of American Archaeologist’s 89th Annual Meeting. Our research consists of us sorting, weighing, measuring, taking notes, etc. for all of the necklace beads. Looking back, what I hadn’t done yet was to learn more about the history of beads. Because Fort St. Joseph was a French fort, I decided that for this blog I would learn and share information about the history of the beads in France. 

To start, I read through the article, “French Beadmaking: An Historic Perspective Emphasizing the 19th and 20th Centuries” by Marie-José Opper and Howard Opper which gives an extensive history of French beads. According to the article, glass beads were first introduced to the French by Phoenician, Egyptian, and Syrian traders. The French did not start creating glass beads on their own until after Romans had taken over. It was during the medieval era that glass bead making really spread throughout France. 

A popular style of glass beads in France was making them to imitate stones, which first became popular in the 13th century. In the 18th century, it was yet again popular to create glass beads that looked like, “emeralds, rubies, quartz, and lapis lazuli” (Opper and Opper). A royal factory specializing in imitation beads was even established in France by Nicolas Mazzolao.

Another bead that was common in France are called rocailles, also commonly known as seed beads. Seed beads are no stranger to Fort St. Joseph as they make up the majority of our bead collection. The seed beads in 18th century France were made from glass rods. Opper and Opper mention that certain glass rods were only made in Nevers and that a few of the rods producers included “Goutté at Chaillot, Lambert and Boyer at Sevres and Oppenheim at Petit-Quevilly.” A majority of the seed beads were sold in Villers and Aubermesnil in Normandy. 

This next section do not pertain to the history of French beads, but I came across this information while researching for my blog and thought it was all very interesting! Rocailles does not only refer to seed beads, but they are also bugle, crow, and pony beads. Bugle beads are tubular/rod shaped beads. Crow and pony beads are similar to seed beads, but are different due to their sizes. On the website for Native Crafts Wholesale, they have a page, “Bead Terminology Explained,” dedicated to bead terminology. Throughout this page I was able to determine that crow beads are 6mm-9mm, pony beads are 5/0-8/0, and seed beads are 10/0-22/0. Now you may be asking yourself what the measurements for the pony and seed beads mean. I was also confused, and am still learning what it means. By reading “Seed Beads Guide including History, Processes, Sizing, Shapes & Coatings” by Big Bead Little Bead, I came across the section, “Seed Beads Guide to Sizes”. I learned that 8/0 is 2.5 mm, 10/0 is 2 mm, and 22/0 is 0.9 mm. The 0, which is pronounced “aught” stands as the standard sized bead by manufacturers. The the number next to the 0, represents how much smaller the bead is to to the standard size. Making the 22/0 22 times smaller. 

Although my blog doesn’t explain the whole history of French bead production, I am hoping that you were able to learn a little more about France’s bead history. I also recommend reading “French Beadmaking: An Historic Perspective Emphasizing the 19th and 20th Centuries” as it delves deep into the history of the beads. 

Thank you, Korrin

Citations: 

“Bead Terminology Explained”. Native Crafts Wholesale. https://www.nativecrafts.us/wp/bead-terminology-explained/. Accessed 29 November 2023

Weller, Anna. “Seed Beads Guide including History, Processes, Sizing, Shapes & Coatings”. Big Bead Little Bead. https://www.bigbeadlittlebead.com/guides_and_information/seed_beads_guide.php#:~:text=The%20most%20common%20size%20is,like%20size%20of%2024%2F0.  Accessed on 29 November 2023. 

Opper, Marie-José, Opper Howard. “French Beadmaking: An Historic Perspective Emphasizing the 19th and 20th Centuries”. Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers. Volume 3. 1995