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Exceptionally rare grey 'lava' pineapple-cut beads c.1820.

More often seen in coral beads of the period 'pineapple-cut' is occasionally in 'lava'(mined limestones and marbles from the region around Pompeii).These bluish dove grey stone beads are delicately speckled and striated giving the effect of an almost powdered surface.

22 inches.Largest bead 1/2 inch diameter.Gold clasp fittings.

 

Of all exotic foods brought back to Europe from the New World and Asia in the c17th the pineapple became most associated with prestige and luxury.

By the 1770s, "a pineapple of the finest flavour" became a phrase used for anything that was the best of the best. It's played upon in Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals, when Mrs Malaprop confuses the word with "pinnacle" and exclaims: "He is the very pineapple of politeness!".

Georgian Pineapple-Cut Beads

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