Vintage Millefiori Bead Necklace from Italy

This is a vintage (1960's/'70's) glass millefiori bead necklace from Murano, Italy.  Each bead is capped and the cord is knotted between each bead.  There are 43 beads total and the necklace is 19" in circumference.  Bead size varies between 1/4" & 3/8" in diameter.  The screw clasp is original.  We have not attempted to clean the necklace; we will leave that to the buyer's discretion.

Roseanna Ettinger has a similar necklace in her 1997 book, Popular Jewelry (page 146).

Millefiori is a glasswork technique most often associated with Venetian glass.  Millefiore means 'a thousand flowers' in Italian.  Murano is a famous island near Venice.  Glassmakers chose to populate Murano in the 13th ventury because the furnaces needed to make the glass endangered the many wooden buildings of Venice.