Here’s a long winded story.

After world war 2 Europe was in bad shape across the board. In Italy, Czechoslovakia and Japan women sat at their kitchen tables after their house work was done for the day and lamp work beads for extra money. I’m not sure why it was these three countries and not more but there are a lot of things I don’t know!

They had propane torches and rods of glass. Using a wire they heated and dipped in ‘slip’ (wet clay) so the glass slipped off the wire easily. Then applied a hot rod of glass, wrapping it around the wire and then reintroducing it to the flame to melt the glass until it ran to the sizes they wanted.

It is extremely unusual to have a gold foil center with opal glass wrapped around it. I’ve never seen more beautiful lamp worked beads in my life!

Being antique and rare makes this a very special earring. You will never see these beads again. I have ONE more pair Just one and probably the last I’ll ever have.

Approximately 1.75” long from the top of the 14 karat gold ear wire.