French traders bartering with the Native Americans for furs, introduced glass beads from Italy. These glass beads, called pony beads, were eagerly adopted and soon incorporated into Native American beadwork and eventually replaced shell beads. Pony beads were much larger than the beads commonly in use today. The Native Americans fashioned them, despite their size, into elaborate necklaces and beaded patterns on fringed shirts and dresses. Pony beads have not disappeared, but the small glass seed bead (an import from Czechoslovakia) became popular around 1850 and remains the favorite to this day.

These glass beads are about 4mm in diameter and sometimes referred to as "E" BEADS OR 6/0 SEED BEADS

1 STRING $1.00 (approx. 190 beads)