Some years ago I was given a small container of dusty beads by a family friend, Georgie, who thought they may be interesting to use in my jewellery.

The beads had been recovered from a Dutch shipwreck off Guernsey by her friend a local diver, who has a vast knowledge of the sea and it’s wrecks around the Channel Islands. The small samples of beads which he had recovered as they were in danger of being lost, were reported to the Receiver of the Wreck and recorded (ID-MGU6374)

The ‘Shipwreck’ beads, their story and the mystery of where they had come from and what they might originally have been for, certainly did prove of interest to lots of our visitors. In exploring the idea of ‘rediscovering treasures’, I had made small pieces of highly textured and aged looking silver to use with the beads and made up a few pairs of earrings during the event. I barely had an opportunity to photograph them as they were selling as quickly as I was making them.

I quickly ran out of the beads and so asked Richard- the diver, if I could possibly have some more.

Learning about the beads history

Earlier this year, I was excited to receive another larger package along with more specific information about the wreck and the beads. Richard had given a small sample to Historic England for analysis as he had heard that they were also investigating another wreck with very similar looking beads. From the bead analysis, the opinion is that the wreck is indeed thought to be of a Dutch trading vessel which was lost, along with it’s cargo of numerous lead glass beads in assorted colours and shapes, off St Peter Port, Guernsey in the late 17th Century.

The above photographs show how the beads looked when they were first lifted from the silt of the seabed. Deposits coated the beads exterior and blocked many of the threading holes. So much work was required to clean the beads in order that I could use them in my jewellery and what seemed liked many, many, (and then some more!) sessions of soaking and rinsing followed by gentle brushing finally removed much of the salt and silt.

More cycles in my ultrasonic cleaner were also necessary to remove the silt from the holes which finally allowed me to thread them on to wires for even more brushing.

From my own research of other examples of Dutch traded beads from this period, I’ve learned that the opalescent white beads, of which there are only a very few, are sometimes referred to as ‘moon beads’ but my personal favourites are the iridescent, black barrel shaped ones as I can never resist anything with an iridescent surface!

2022 UPDATE: I found the story of these beads so inspiring that I have now created a ‘Treasures’ collection which both incorporates some of the original beads alongside bespoke glass cabachons in newly created one-off pieces. Why not take a look?

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Charlotte x