Sad Announcement

Dear customers, friends, and collectors, it is with much sadness that our family must announce the passing of our mother, who’s knowledge and curiosity, made the Sacred Bead and this blog such special places online. She truly loved to research her rosaries and loved to teach people about them. 

For the immediate future the pages of the site with items available to purchase have been disabled to allow us time to formulate a plan to move forward with the site. While we are not experts in the field of rosaries, we are, however, versed in ecommerce, jewelry, and antiques, and will try our best to make available for purchase, at some point in the not so distant future, a portion of her remaining collection.

We will also make our best effort to archive the research that she did and make it available for collectors and other interested people.This blog will remain online, though only occasionally updated.

 

Please bare with us during this difficult time.

Her, Sons, Daughter, Sister and Nephew

A Celebration of Beautiful Red Rosaries

I thought this month would be a fine time to share the great variety of beautiful red beads used in antique rosaries. Many Victorian aged rosaries have the deep red glass beads made to resemble garnets, while others of this time are accented with gorgeous and rare natural Mediterranean coral that has a more salmon tone. There are even antique beads composed of a man-made material called bois durci that used sawdust and various other materials. The story goes that the reddish color of these beads is from the addition of blood as a binder.


Although at Valentine's Day and other times throughout the year, red symbolizes love, it can also symbolize blood and even war. This is not the case with rosaries, though, as red rosaries were produced primarily for aesthetic purposes- some people prefer colored beads rather than wood beads. There are rare chaplets where the color red symbolizes the blood of Christ- such as the The Precious Blood chaplet.


Enjoy these stunning red antique rosaries in a variety of materials- all found on The Sacred Bead. I also added some lovely Mother of Pearl rosaries to provide a contrast to the red. The incredible way that MOP catches the light is a wonder for the eyes.

 Extremely rare carnelian beads with sterling- antique French rosary from the mid-1800s.

 Beautiful rosary from Lourdes France with faceted red glass beads.

 Victorian Era Red Glass Rosary.

 Precious Mediterranean natural sea coral and mother of pearl rosary. Coral was believed to have protective qualities and was extremely popular during the Victorian period.

 1800s rosary with bois durci beads.

 A fabulous 1800s very large Mother of Pearl Rosary with MOP and silver crucifix.

 Mother of Pearl with a warmer tone- beautiful hand cut beads and a delicate fleur de lis crucifix

 Lovely garnet colored glass beads on a sweet, antique rosary.

 Mother of Pearl Cross- quite rare!

Fabulous garnet colored cut glass with incredibly detailed sterling crucifix and center- a stunning rosary from the 1800s.

 Beautiful French antique rosary with natural coral beads.

 These are deep red glass Prosser beads- an inventive new type of bead made in a mold and used extensively as trade beads.

 Gorgeous strung Bavarian rosary with opaque glass beads that resemble coral.

 Sweet 1800s hand cut mother of pearl rosary with MOP center and cross.

Very unusual bright red 1800s antique rosary with Prosser beads and the original old brass case. Could have accompanied pioneers as they headed west.

January Additions to The Sacred Bead

I have been so busy I have been neglecting my blog! Just a quick note and a lot of pictures to show some the newest additions of antique and vintage rosaries to The Sacred Bead. There are plenty of moderately priced rosaries for you so enjoy looking. I know the economy is not so great right now, so I am concentrating on bringing my customers the best rosaries at affordable prices. I'll have more detailed blogs on interesting rosaries coming up in February.

 Spina Christi bead rosary with reliquary crucifix. Soil from the Catacombs of Rome is inside the crucifix.

 Gorgeous rosary with extra medals and fabulous silver 18th C crucifix (someone added this stunning and rare crucifix to the early 20th C rosary)

 Pardon cross, early 20th C rosary with Czech Jesus beads.

 Exquisite and Rare sterling and garnet glass mid 1800s antique French rosary. Both the center and crucifix are hollow silverwork- simply beautiful!

 Beautiful double capped rosary, Italian.

 Sweet blue WWI era rosary.

 Stunning art glass and sterling rosary. The beads are Czech, faceted art glass- note the beautiful silver spacers on either side of the Pater beads.

 Elegant and rare rosary that is simply lovely!

An Extremely Rare Colored Civelli Rosary

This beautiful and quite rare Civelli rosary was spotted on eBay. The owner kindly gave me permission to share this incredible example of the well-loved Civelli rosaries with the world. I have tried to research when the colored versions were produced (the original patent does not mention color) and have had no luck so far. The original 1950 Holy Year issue had the Holy Spirit on the center rather than the Regina Pacis, Queen of Peace, center with relic soil from the Catacombs of Rome on the reverse. About 10 years ago I saw a bundle of colored Civellis offered for sale, and although I can't remember for sure, I believe there were orange and green ones also. These had come from a closed church- the priest apparently gave the rosaries as special gifts. Even the more common black and white Civellis have a range of colorings- some a warmer tone, while others are starkly black and white.


I also came across an interesting tidbit from a 1952 newspaper, just a little notice making people aware of the Civelli rosary. The cost was listed as $5!

Here are the pictures of this gorgeous red Civelli rosary. The rosary is in a private collection.

 The reverse of the crucifix is similar to other later issue Civelli rosaries. The reverse of the 1950 Holy Year original version has a more detailed reverse complete with a shield.

 Soil from the Catacombs of Rome in the reverse of the center. Even in the very worn Civellis, this little relic compartment is always intact. The tag below says Marque Depose which is the European version of registered trademark.