Necklace with Celtic Eye Beads

Culture: Celtic

Period: 5th-4th century B.C.

Material: Glass

Dimensions: 42 cm long

Price: Sold

Ref: 5261

Provenance: Austrian private collection Dusan Djuric, acquired in the1990s.

Condition: Eye beads throughout in an excellent condition. The threading should be renewed before wearing.

Description: Necklace with 76 yellow and blue eye beads in total. The “eyes” themselves consist of blue glass with white framing. Most of the beads with double pairs of eyes. In the centre below three blue opaque glass beads. For the making of these so-called layered eye beads different colored glass rods were fused, then cut in small pieces and pressed in a hot matrix. Finally, the ring beads were smoothed and polished. There are still scientific discussions about the place of manufacture. One approach is that these beads were imported objects, which were probably made in Greece or Egypt. Threaded on a textile ribbon.