Stunning turquoise green opal antique Venetian size 11/0 translucent opaline glass seed beads.

Many of these opal glass beads show lovely opaline "fire" when viewed in bright light.

Average size: 2.2 - 2.35 mm.

Approximately 18 beads per inch.

Each package contains 10 grams of beads.

These handmade antique Italian glass seed beads were manufactured in Venice between the late 1800s and 1920s. They were made by the Societa Veneziana Conterie, a consortium of 16 independent Venetian bead makers that formed an alliance starting in 1898 and lasting until 1992.

These beautiful antique seed beads were handmade, and have more variations in shape, size, color, and uniformity than modern seed beads. Rarely, you may encounter a bead without a hole. These differences are to be expected, and add to their character and charm.

.:.All the antique and vintage seed beads I carry are colorfast. With the exception of beads with luster, pearlized, metallic, AB, or sol gel coatings, the color is in the glass itself, not applied to the surface. Many of these colors are no longer manufactured, either because they were too expensive to produce, the results of the recipe were too varied, or because the secrets of their manufacture were lost when the factories which made them shut down. These are tiny pieces of history, made by hand with care and skill.:.