Our Latest Message
April 2008
 

Dear Friends Old and New,

I hope you will enjoy browsing through our pages and looking at the displays which include just about all of the Trade Bead types .. and some of the unusual and interesting curios .. to be found in West Africa. In advance of our next collecting trip to West Africa, if you have any requirements for items that you cannot find on our pages, please don't delay in contacting us and letting us know what they are. We will do our best to find your items whilst we are in Africa and will let you know of any successes on our return to the UK.

Amongst the latest arrivals are more additions to our Ancient Bead selections, some beautiful Tuareg Silver and various designs of traditional Baoule Brass. For the creative amongst you, we have more Lapis Lazuli necklaces and matched bead strands, enabling you to create unique jewellery items. There are some stunning Collectors Specials and Specialist Strands .. and for African "amber" enthusiasts, we have some superb collections of first quality beads which are becoming extremely rare to obtain.

The production of exact reproductions of original beads continues apace, especially many of those of Chinese and Indonesian production which are perfect in their coloration and design, some are even being artificially aged to match the patina of beads many hundreds of years old. Whilst they are undeniably beautiful beads, they totally lack any character and present an increasing problem in age identification for both professionals and amateurs alike. ATB will continue to search for original specimens with historical identities and that "special feel" which is well known to enthusiasts of genuine original beads.

By concentrating on only buying first quality beads, we have continued to add to our various categories of especially selected Single Beads … letting you pick out individual favourites for your creative projects or to be able to add to your specialist collections with more design variations of the same bead type.

For over a year now, worldwide economic difficulties, especially those stemming from the US banking system, have resulted in a slow down in trade for many bead dealers, especially those with whom I deal in West Africa. A point to note is that good quality ancient and antique beads are also a solid investment for the future, they will never devalue in the same way that many people are experiencing with the currencies in their pockets !

It is to my African dealer friends' credit and foresight for better times to return, that in our dealings over the Winter months, they agreed to keep their prices pegged to normal levels … although tradition dictates that the usual good natured bargaining down from "first prices" still has to take place!

This enables ATB to maintain stock levels of quality items and to keep our prices the same as they have been for some time now … thus continuing the mutually beneficial trade between us all for the long term future. As in past years, my grateful thanks go to them all for their loyalty to ATB and their honesty and helpfulness in their trading with me.

Just a gentle reminder that most of our items are unique and only available singly. It is getting ever more difficult to find identical replacements. To be fair to all, we process Order Enquiries and Confirmations to purchase in the date and time order in which they arrive … so once you have decided on your choice, please don't delay and lose the chance of getting that particular item.

When you have finished looking through our pages, have ordered and are waiting for your items to arrive, or just need a relaxing break from studying and selecting .. don't forget my other Website www.toubab.com.

New articles describing my travels to find beads and to explore less well-known areas of Africa, are constantly being added. Beautiful pictures, sound and video, accompany the latest articles to enhance the textual content and attempt to immerse you in the African ambience, whilst relating encounters with a myriad of people in a variety of diverse situations. In addition to the travelogues, 130+ pages of jokes, quotes and safe downloads are also to be found .. all for your enjoyment.

ATB and Toubab.com are published to hopefully interest, inform and entertain you .. and to supply you with quality items for you to treasure into the future.

I look forward to hearing from you all .. customers and friends .. old and new.

All the Very Best

David Nevill
African Trade Beads