Collection: Collectible, Antique, Rare, and Unusual Beads

It’s the thrill of the hunt when you’re collecting beads

We all have our reasons why we collect things – either for prestige, pleasure, for sentimental reasons, to preserve the past, or for investment, but for many it’s simply the thrill of the hunt – in adding to a collection.

We’ve been collecting and selling beads for almost a quarter of a century – and we wouldn’t trade that time for quid's.

Fascinated by the intrigue beads had on our personal perspectives, we set out to build a veritable repository of some of the world’s finest beads. And it became a thrilling experience.

That adventure began in 1998 when we planned to do big things with little items.

Throughout the “Noughties” and the “Twenty Tens” we sourced and hand-picked beads and findings from around the world to stock our two shops – ‘Broome Beads’ in the far north sub-tropical Kimberley community of Broome and Margaret River Beads located in the heart of the state’s renowned premium wine producing region of Margaret River.

And now that we have decided to part with our collection, it gives us a lot of joy to share the fruits of our labour through a new online repository platform.

As you will see for yourself, our collection is broad and varied:

Some examples of these treasures include: ancient conch beads from high in the Himalayas dressed up with brass or silver; antique Afghan amber beads - some with sterling silver inlay, 200-year-old African trade beads that were used in exchange for slaves or gold, crude Roman glass, a good selection of Chinese Cinnabar beads and pendants which have been hand-carved with floral motifs, Buddhas or various other Chinese characters.

And then from Afghanistan we offer an impressive selection, including hand-carved designs in Lapis Lazuli, Jade, Blackstone and Jasper, old silver and copper beads inlaid with semi- precious stones, old base metal open filigree beads, stylish Turkoman and Kazakh metal bicones, and 500-year-old hand carved beads from Herat.

From the fabled regions of Tibet and Nepal we have a selection of turquoise, silver and coral; from Burma – unique artillery brass shell, while from India, Indonesia and China we have a huge range of colourful glass, bone, metal and resin beads.

Not to mention our hand-crafted sandcast beads from Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa, seed beads from Czechoslovakia and Delica beads from Japan.