Moon Bead Virtual Store Moon Bead Virtual Store Antique Trade Beads are wonderful little sculptures of art, that make great, and still affordable collctibles. They are also portable and take up little space. There is a lot to know about beads, they have a very long history, and each country has it's own story. Beads have been made since caveman days.
Beads mean different things to different people.
Many countries used beads as money, for religious purposes, or for adornment. Even today, for many indigenous people, beads still play an important role in their culture. They may have been in families for hundreds of years, traveled around the world many times, strung and re-strung many times on necklaces, recovered from the earth, and sometimes washed up on beaches. After several hundred years, beads become rounded, and worn. Sometimes they aquire chips and decoration loss.