Trade Bead, West Africa
date: label: date made
content: n.d.
notes: label: Description
content: Beads have served as a medium of exchange around the globe. Many different types of beads have been used in transactions on the continent of Africa including those made from glass, coral, shell, and stone. Aggrey beads are a type of bead that was used for jewelry as well as trade in West Africa, especially modern day Ghana and Nigeria. They are often blue in color and cylindrical in shape. Due to limited information about the origins of the beads in the National Numismatic Collection it is not possible to determine if this specific object was used as a medium of exchange, worn as jewelry, or produced as a replica.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Africa
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: West African Currency
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Chase Manhattan Bank
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: NU.79.112.OC197B
label: accession number
content: 1979.1263
label: catalog number
content: 79.112.OC197B
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Trade Bead
label: Object Name
content: alternative currency
label: Other Terms
content: Trade Bead; Africa; Western
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: mineral aggregate, glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: red (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: blue (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: yellow (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: green (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: holed, painted, and fired (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 16.3 mm x 17.7 mm; 5/8 in x 11/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17.9 mm; 23/32 in