The More Things Change, The More Beads Stay the Same

You know how I always tell you that beads are very similar through time? And that most of the shapes, sizes and even colors of beads that we see today can be found around the world? To some extent that's because the Czech Republic is one of the best makers of glass beads, and those beads get shipped allover the world.

I was reading something interesting at CNN.com yesterday. Some 70,000 beads have been found underneath a Spanish Mission off the coast of Georgia (our Georgia, not Russia's Georgia!). Here's a shot:



They look to me to be glass and natural stone beads.

And I was reminded suddenly of a bead display I'd seen in one of my vendor's catalogs. Check it out:



See anything familiar? They look to be the same shape, size and even color! Once something works, I guess people really like to stick with it.