Antique Venetian Micro Seed Bead Metallic Gun Metal #1 (18/0)

Antique SVC Venetian Metallic Micro Seed Beads — Gun Metal #1

Genuine Venetian micro seed beads from old Società Veneziana Conterie warehouse stock, in Gun Metal #1. This is a dark, silvery pewter-gray with a true metallic surface — the color of aged steel or tarnished silver, with a soft industrial luster that catches light across the mass of beads. It sits firmly in the gray family: cooler and harder than the browns, without the brightness of a polished silver finish.

The metallic finish is a surface treatment over glass, and its character varies subtly bead to bead — some beads carry a brighter, more reflective luster while others read slightly darker and more oxidized. This variation is natural to the production method and gives massed beadwork a lively, textured metal quality that a perfectly uniform modern plating cannot replicate. As with all metallic surface finishes, prolonged friction and skin contact can wear the treatment over time; for heirloom work, handle as you would any coated antique bead.

For restoration and traditional beadwork, this colorway occupies a genuinely useful niche: its dark steel-gray metallic read sits naturally alongside antique cut-steel and metal-bead work, offering the period-correct visual weight of metal at glass-bead scale. It also serves as a grounding accent color against the brighter colorways of the SVC palette. Browse our full SVC metallic and gray inventory to compare against your reference material.

Sizing note: This lot measured approximately 1.24–1.26mm at sampling — consistent with SVC 18/0 production, within our micro seed bead class (16/0 and finer). Antique beads are measured from original stock and sizing is approximate; dimensions may vary between lots. We recommend pre-sorting before count-critical work.

Note: Due to their extremely small size, these micro beads may not be suitable for all beading projects. We recommend using a beading tray and fine beading needle for best results.