Submitted by:  ~Belle

• Millefiori means thousand flowers and is made from cane glass. Cane are made with thin bundles of glass rods heated and built up around them. When the bead maker wants to use a cane, the cane is reheated, drawn, and then cut in thin slices across the cane (called murrine) to produce the flowers.
   

• Millefiori beads have been made for a long time back to a simple type made in the 16th century BC in Thebes (then the capital of Egypt). Very complex forms of millefiori beads were made by the Hellenistic Greeks and the Romans. (The art of glass making had been forgotten by the time of the ancient Greeks who re-invented it.)
   

• Some millefiori beads were used as trade beads in the African trade during the 19th century, the time period when the word millefiori began to be used to describe them. These are often quite beautiful but fairly roughly made.
   

• Millefiori beads are made in many places. The traditional opaque bright colors on black with a shiny finish are very difficult to date because they have been made all during the 20th century in Italy. However, many other manufacturers made millefiori types of beads for which they are equally famous, such as the Japanese after WWII. Millefiori beads are flooding our country today from China in every color of the rainbow. India makes some millefiori beads using Murano glass.
   

• How do you tell them apart? Italian glass is heavy. Their canes are quite complex, often using 4 or 5 circled colors in the canes. The finish is shiny, but I've noticed a decline in quality in some of the Italian production in the last 10 years with some things like the cane sticking up above the under-bead or bead holes that are rough. Generally you can tell by the number of colors and weight, however.
   

• Japanese millefiori has very small 2 color pieces of cane that almost look like they are sprinkled on the surface and swirled into the bead. They used many different under-bead colors in clear and opaque. These are also heavy weight beads with very even formation and they remain in good, shiny condition even today after 40 to 50 years.
   

• Indian millefiori is usually made with 3 color canes and the finish of the bead holes is somewhat rougher quality. The under-glass is a lighter weight and not particularly clear in the clear varieties.
   

• Chinese millefiori comes in all colors of the rainbow and most of what you see sold on eBay is Chinese in origin. Bright colors on underbeads of translucent turquoise or red are typical - big coin-shaped or puffed square beads. The glass is not particularly clear and the quality difference between Italian glass and Chinese is obvious when you are holding it in your hand.
   

• There is a Chinese factory that makes Murano-style beads using Italian glass under the direction of a Murano-trained supervisor. Some of this production is used even in Italy because it is less expensive than Italian-made glass, but the few foil glass beads that I did buy just don't have the same quality of lampworking - like it was hurried, perhaps. I don't know whether this factory produces millefiori, however.
   

• To me, all millefiori beads are relatively inexpensive beads because they are not particularly difficult to make. In Italy, you can buy a whole 24" necklace of millefiori beads for about $12. Some of the old Japanese encased millefiori is more expensive, but other vintage Japanese millefiori can be relatively cheap.