This unique one of a kind necklace is made from red tubular Bohemian trade glass beads, dating from around 1850. The center band features old silver bell pendants from Rajasthan, India, striped brown Venetian glass and Prosser glass beads, as well as old corals from Yemen. Vintage Indian and Yemenite silver beads are used as spacer and end beads. The sterling silver hook clasp is handmade in India.

Glass production in Bohemia, today Czech Republic, goes back to as early as the 8th to 9th century with the Celts being the first to produce glass. Due to the natural abundance of quartz in the local mountains, the base material needed to make silica for glass production, much forested land and wood for the high heat furnaces and a plethora of local streams to cool the glass down once it was blown or poured, the conditions for glass making in Bohemia were ideal. It wasn’t until the 16th century however that glass making became an industry, with production peaking in the early 19th century, when Bohemian glass beads were exported worldwide to the Americas, Africa and Asia. Today old Bohemian glass beads and cabochons have become sought after collectors items.