Viking bead reproductions for sale in the Iceland National Museum Gift Shop. Most of the beads in this lot are “Melon Beads”.
In the Iceland National Museum in Reykjavik I looked in the gift shop for a few little things to bring back – possibly for my ongoing Viking Age garb. One of the things they had (in addition to a few others I picked up!) was reproduction beads based on Viking Age finds. Since I had seen authentic beads both in the Iceland National Museum and at the Settlement Museum, I selected ones that seemed more similar to the ones I had seen in the museum, rather than ones that were just plain pretty. I did however… take photos!
The prices were 150 Kr (about $1.50 Canadian) for one small bead, 200 Kr for a medium bead, and 295 Kr for large beads.
A number of the beads look very similar to beads available through Asgard Crafts, who hand craft their glass beads at their workshop on the Isle of Skye. For instance, their Bumble Bee bead, (a solid red or blue glass cylindrical bead with a yellow swirl from end to end), their triple bead (which looks like three round beads joined together in blue, red, green, or yellow), their blue, red, and white glass trail bead (a barrel bead with drawn stripes of colour) and others all look similar. It’s possible that Asgard Crafts is the supplier, or perhaps both suppliers are just inspired by the same authentic bead finds.
Likewise, some of the beads are similar to the beautiful beads on Tillerman. The only difference is the price, with the Tillerman beads (as beautiful as they are) starting at about $6.00 Canadian… (with the exception of the Annular beads)
National Museum of Iceland
www.nationalmuseum.is
Suðurgata 41, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
+354 530 2200
The Saga Museum (also in Reykjavik) had a number of Viking Age reproduction beads available as well (at different prices). I photographed these as well.
Viking Age reproduction beads for sale in the Saga Museum gift shop fffx
Several of these beads were the same as at the National Museum.
I did find the way the Saga Museum displayed the beads easier to look through though.
Vikingaperlur = Viking Beads
The pricing of the beads was similar, 100 Kr (instead of 150) for small beads, 200 Kr (instead of 250) for medium ones, and 300 Kr (instead of 295) for the large ones. Their display also included leather cord for people to string up their beads. There were also a number of beads that I didn’t think looked like reproductions of Viking Age beads – I didn’t photograph these.
Viking Age reproduction beads for sale in the Saga Museum gift shop
The Saga Museum also had a festoon and brooches for sale in their gift shop – though it was far too expensive for me to consider 😦
Reproduction festoon and brooches from the Saga Museum gift shop
Sagamuseum – The Saga Museum
www.sagamuseum.is/
Grandagarður, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
+354 511 1517
Dawn's Dress Diary 
Nice to see the beads! I will steal the bagway of displaying them 🙂 Some day I will go to Island too. Have a nice day, Linda
Thanks! The display is really good – though I think it also takes up a lot of space… nice if you are displaying them for sale though – less useful to store them for your personal stash! Iceland is beautiful – I highly recommend visiting if you get a chance – it’s a lot closer for you too!
[…] already showed off some of the beads, needle cases, and festoons available from the Saga Museum gift shop but I thought I’d do a […]