Special Collections: Hubbell Bead Necklaces

Hubbell Beads, which are glass imitations of turquoise, have been around almost as long as Navajo jewelry.

The beads got their name from noted trader to the Navajo John Lorenzo Hubbell, who first started trading at Ganado, Arizona in 1878. He quickly saw that there was a market among the Navajo for beads that looked like turquoise but were less expensive, and he began importing glass beads from Bohemia and other Czech areas. The first beads were a uniform pale blue in color, in keeping with the Navajo love for the "skystone" color of turquoise, and came in shapes mimicking tabs and other forms of turquoise beads.

As bead making became more sophisticated at the turn of the 20th Century, manufacturers began experimenting and soon began to produce "turquoise" beads in many shades of blue and green, with many different matrices. Other glass beads in the form of "coral" and "shell" were made, in varying shades, shapes and sizes.

These necklaces are from the collection of "Arizona's Hubbell Bead Woman", and represent the largest and finest collection of different Hubbell Bead types to be available in at least a decade. All beads predate World War II, and can be restrung to meet special sizes or preferences. Please click on the pictures below for detail photos--the necklaces do not show up well in the thumbnail photos, and can be better appreciated in the detail shots. (For the sake of accuracy, bead dimensions are given in millimeters.)

For questions, please email us or call at (480) 423-8777.

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