The extensive J.F. Sick and Co. trade bead sample card collection at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam recently became consultable online (note that you need to install Microsoft Silverlight on your computer). One may zoom in on the beads on each card and a side bar provides dating and other information. This collection is extensively discussed in the 2006 book, The Bead Goes On: The Sample Card Collection with Trade Beads from the Company J.F. Sick & Co. This German (later Dutch) company was one of the most important exporter of beads to West Africa in the first half of the twentieth century. When in 1964 the firm closed its office in Venice, it donated the sample collection of some 22,000 Venetian glass beads kept in its head office in Amsterdam to the Tropenmuseum. Compliments for the Tropenmuseum for making this important collection available online in such high resolution.
