The Weekender asked Statia's historian Walter Hellebrand about the significance of blue beads: “Statia's blue beads appeal to the imagination. It is because they are tangible reminders of a time long gone when life on the island was very different and there was slavery. For Statians, it is possible that one of their ancestors wore the beads, or stored them, because in addition to being used for adornment, they also represented wealth and status. They are one of the most direct and ownable links to the forefathers a Statian can have.
“I find it very wrong, therefore, that visitors to the island are allowed to take them away with them and that this is actually promoted to tourists. I don't know of any other place in the civilised world that actively encourages visitors to leave with its heritage! It is very strange that the law does not forbid the export of our cultural heritage and this should actually change.
“Unfortunately for him, my nephew has me for his uncle. So when he found a blue bead while visiting me last year, he asked me if he could take it with him to the Netherlands. He pleaded and pleaded, but I have to be consistent. I could see how parting with the bead pained him, but he did leave it on Statia. I am very proud of him for that!
“The beads are closely linked to slavery. In fact, they also used to be called 'slave beads.' From the arrival of Europeans in West Africa [the Portuguese were the first], beads were used for barter. So in West Africa, they attained the status of currency and for the enslaved Africans arriving in the Americas, this continued. Chemical tests on the six-sided blue beads, as found on Statia, proved that they come from a glass bead factory in Amsterdam.”
According to Raimie M. Richardson, Master’s Degree in History, and who is involved with researching of the beads, said that in the beginning of the European slave trade in West Africa, the beads were mostly made in Venice.
However, when the English, French, Danish, Swedish, Germans and Courlanders (Latvians) joined the trade, Amsterdam – and later Bohemia (Czech Republic) – became centres of bead production destined for trade in Africa. Another term for these beads is therefore “trade beads.” Even English slave traders would stock up on beads from Amsterdam before sailing on to Africa.
Richardson said it has long been believed that the blue beads of Statia were made by Venetian glass blowers in Amsterdam, but recent research on a few specimens showed that they were each made by hand, making no two alike. Venetian beads of the time are all similar in size and model, due to being precisely cut and shaped.
The link of these hexagonal beads to St. Eustatius has sparked the attention of researchers. The beads were once used as payment for the island’s slaves, and the five-angle blue beads are very specific to the island, being found nowhere else in the world.
It is even believed that slaves could be married if they had enough to go around a lady’s waist. Some of the blue beads found on St. Eustatius dated as far back as the year 1615 with the French and Spanish empire both attempting to colonise the island before the Netherlands in 1636 showing that they were already produced. One cannot help but ask what made them so valuable for trade and made them so sought after, Richardson pondered.
There are a wide variety of beads throughout the entire island, the beads come barrel or cannon ball-shaped, Richardson explained. And inventory between 1960 and 1972 indicates the presence of not only Dutch beads from the 17th and 18th century but African, Venetian, Indonesian and Spanish all because of the island being a major trading post.
Hellebrand: “The beads play an important role in local folklore on Statia – always connected to the days of slavery. So when I designed the coat-of-arms of Statia, I chose to put a chain of blue beads around the shield as a reminder of that part of the island's history.
“As I mentioned, they appeal to the imagination. They do so to the point where stories about them are also made up – usually for the benefit of tourists. For example, that Manhattan was bought from the Indians by the Dutch for thirty Statia blue beads. That is impossible because this happened 10 years before the Dutch even arrived on Statia. Unfortunately, historical documents about Statia don't make mention of beads.
“A Barbados planter writing in 1750 mentions that his slaves adorned their bodies with beads. In interviews with ex-slaves in the southern USA, they mention strings of beads used during prayer. This may refer to Muslim practices. They also spoke about young slave girls wearing so-called ‘charm strings’ which were supposed to bring good luck.
“Some archaeologists/anthropologists conclude that the blue coloured beads were used to ward off the evil eye. Colour symbolism is a central aspect in Central and West-African religious practices. The colour blue was considered to have protective power.
“In West-Africa, the beads have retained their role and function: for adornment and as charms and amulets. When I was in Ghana, I was at first surprised to see blue beads still sold on the markets. What is remarkable is that whereas trade beads found their way to most of the Americas, it is only in Statia that you find the blue beads in such significant quantities. Well, at least you used to, since so many are now lying in forgotten drawers in American or European homes.
“An American, who visited the island in 1911, was given a possible explanation. He found a blue bead on the beach near Crook's Castle. And he writes that it was part of a cargo of a ship bound for Africa that sunk on the reef off that beach about 100 years before. And with each southwest gale, the beads would be washed out of its hulk ending up on the shore.
“However, trade beads were used as ballast on the ships during their first leg of the infamous triangular trade and would be unloaded in West-Africa. Ships sailing from the Caribbean would be bound for Europe, not Africa. So part of the mystery endures..."
Richardson said that archaeologists in Amsterdam recently found one place where the island blue beads may have originated from, and research continues. He also agrees that taking the beads off-island should be banned.
Statia’s blue beads are also displayed at Amsterdam’s Allard Pierson Museum, and as far as the national museum of Ghana.
The island’s famous blue beads will be playing a role in the upcoming exhibit on slavery at the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. They will also to be celebrated as part of the 25th celebration of the Windward Islands Bank on Statia.
