Single-strand white bead necklace with gold-tone spacers
Entry/Object ID
2025.20.13
Description
A single-strand beaded necklace of glossy opaque-white beads graduated in size — large freeform twisted-ovoid ("baroque") beads across the front center, diminishing to small round beads near the clasp — each separated by a small round gold-tone metal spacer bead. The beads nearest the clasp are individually wire-linked (rosary-style), closing with a tarnished brass fold-over/hook clasp.
Item Type
Necklace
Acquisition
Accession
2025.20
Acquisition Method
Gift
Made/Created
Notes
Maker: Not identified; no maker's mark on the clasp.
Date: Undated. The opaque-white-glass-with-gilt-spacers style is broadly mid-20th-century costume jewelry, but nothing on the object fixes a date; cannot be confirmed within 1959–1990 and may fall outside it. Tentative.
Materials
Material Notes
Materials: Opaque white beads — most likely milk glass (opaque white glass), possibly plastic or ceramic (not determinable without handling); small gold-tone metal (brass) spacer beads; brass clasp; wire/cord stringing.
Technique: Strung graduated beads with metal spacers; rosary-style wire-linked beads near the clasp; fold-over/hook metal clasp.
Condition
Overall Condition
Poor
Research Notes
Notes
A mid-century-style costume necklace of opaque-white (milk-glass-type) graduated "baroque" beads with gilt spacer accents. Without hallmarks, neither a firm date nor an origin can be established — milk-glass bead necklaces were produced widely (e.g., West Germany, Japan, Czechoslovakia, U.S. costume lines) and were also worn and assembled in Cuba, so attribution stays open.
