Trade Beads
Trade beads such as the Morphia or Morfia, the Chevron, Venetian and Roman or Islamic beads are of great value to collectors. The more you know about your beads the more value they hold when you proceed to sell them.
Trade beads area exactly what they indicate. They were used as money is today. In Africa they were often used to trade for spices and gold. Along the Lewis and Clark trail, they were used to trade with the Indians.
Legend lends a huge value to the Morfia, sometimes spelled Morphia beads. These are the earliest of the Islamic Rod Beads. The legend is that if you break a morfia into several pieces it has the power to bring great wealth. The more pieces it is broken into the more wealth it can bring. The broken pieces are often shared with family members to bring them wealth too.
If the price of a morfia bead goes sky-high, it does not matter. Rich Mauritians will pay any price to obtain them.
Venetian and Chevron glass, trade beads of antique nature are quite valuable. You may also find it fun to collect Indian trade beads, or Dutch delft trade beads. Dutch delft is made of a softer glass and breaks easily, so to find them in excellent condition is not an easy task. Watchful collectors often will find them at auction.
As you will see from the examples below, the value of trade beads can be very high. These are only a few examples. You will find many others available at cost of .99 cents on up to the rare, collector pieces.
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| German Marble Trade Beads EXTRAORDINARYeBay Giving Works | |
Buy It Now: $9,000.00
Sale Ends: 11d 16h 4m | |
| GHOST Venetian Trade Beads UNBELIEVABLE LongeBay Giving Works | |
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Buy It Now: $4,200.00
Sale Ends: 3d 22h 51m | |
| MOON Beads Opalescent Trade Beads UNBELIEVABLEeBay Giving Works | |
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Buy It Now: $3,700.00
Sale Ends: 3d 22h 43m | |
There are hundreds and hundreds of trade beads up for auction every day at all prices. You can view them all at once by clicking the view all available now.