Antique SVC Venetian Transparent Luster Raw Sienna #1 Square Hole Seed Beads 11/0

Antique SVC Venetian Transparent Luster 11/0 Seed Beads — Raw Sienna #1, Square Hole

Genuine Venetian 11/0 seed beads from old Società Veneziana Conterie warehouse stock, in Raw Sienna #1 with a transparent luster finish and a square hole. The glass is a clear golden amber — the warm, honeyed brown-gold that gives raw sienna pigment its name — and the luster coating sits over the top as a soft pearlized sheen rather than a hard metallic shine. Light passes straight through the bead and picks up the luster on its way out, which is what gives these their particular liquid, lit-from-within quality.

The square hole is the detail worth planning around. Where a round-hole bead rolls freely on the thread, a square hole seats the bead against its neighbors with a slight structural bias, so massed work sits flatter and stacks more evenly — valued in loom work and tight peyote, and one of the reasons square-hole SVC lots get sought out specifically. It also means the beads catch light in facet-like flashes across a finished piece rather than as a uniform gleam.

Transparent luster behaves differently from opaque luster in finished work: the color reads lighter and more luminous, shifts noticeably with what sits behind it, and gains depth when layered over a light backing. If your reference piece used a transparent golden bead, an opaque luster of the same hue will read as visibly heavier and flatter. Browse our full SVC luster and Raw Sienna selection to compare against your material.

Sizing note: The original acquisition card designates this lot 11/0. Antique beads are measured from original stock and sizing is approximate; dimensions may vary between lots. Square-hole lots in particular run with more shape variation than round-hole equivalents. We recommend pre-sorting before count-critical work.