Trade beads were used between the 16th and the beginning of the 20th century as jewellery and currency by the population of West Africa and other parts of the world. The beads were made throughout Europe although the Venetians dominated production. Millefiori (thousand flowers) beads from Venice, Italy, were highly popular and are commonly known as ‘African trade beads’. They were produced by melting small glass flowers onto a pierced dark glass core. The flowers were created by stretching out glass canes of different colours to thin glass wires. These were then moulded together with other coloured wires to form a new glass core which was then cut into small sections revealing their flowers-shape. African trade beads were a symbol of social status and the wealth of a person could be easily determined by the quality, quantity and style of jewellery worn. The beads in the Lowlands-collection were all acquired in Ghana at the end of the 20th century and date from around 1900 and earlier.