Antique Red Cornaline D'Aleppo Venetian Glass & Skunk African Trade Beads

Description

Long necklace of old red Venetian Glass African trade beads.  The b
eads vary slightly in coloring, size and shape since they were hand-made.  I do not know the age of these beads, although these beads were commonly made in Murano, Italy starting in 1860 for Africa so they are most likely from the late 1800s or early 1900s.  Necklace is 44" long and weighs 7.6 oz.  It includes 47 red skunk beads and 46 tubular beads.
The yellow heart tubular beads are wound beads of Murano (Venetian) glass made for trade in Africa.  The have depth to them with the red glass wrapped around a yellow core.  These beads are also called Hudson Bay or Cornaline D'Aleppo, since cornaline is the Italian word for carnelian, a deep red gem.  Some of then have a chip or two on the ends.
The round beads are spotted skunk beads which are somewhat translucent with the red wrapped around white glass (sometimes referred to as white-heart beads).  The outer color varies from deep pink to maroon to cranberry red to cherry red.  The darker pink and maroon beads appear to be less perfectly formed than the cherry red beads and might be older.