can  be  covered  with  silver  coating  using  a  cold  process  with  the  help  of  silver  ammonium  nitrate
and  a  solution  ofclove  and  cassia  oil  in  atcohol.  Also  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  19th  Century  there
was  already  a  certain  parallel  development  in  the  decorating  of  blown  beads  and  mirror  production,
  since  this  kind  of  bead  was  also  coated  with  a  reflecting  iead  and  tin  alloy.
Not  until  after  1855,  did  silver  coating  become  completely  practicaI  by  using  the  silver  coating
liquids  prescribed  by  Petitjean  and  Liebig;  this  improved  method  of  production,  the  so-called
coid-method  silver  coating,  was  immediately  tested  and  implemented  by  Weiskopf.  /4s  a  result,
the  bead  business  experienced  an  undreamed-of  upswing.  Whereas  betöre  this,  no  Austrian
product  had  been  able  to  boast  of  such  widely  distributed  sales  as  the  Bohemian  glass  bead,  the
metallized  bead  now  made  its  triumphant  march  across  the  whole  world...  The  silver  solution
used  for  lining  beads  could  be  bought  back  then  from  the  pharmacist,  Ullrich,  later  also  from  the
Weiskopf  Chemicals  factory  in  Morchenstern.  In  1868,  Hartwig  Weiskopf  had  applied  to  the  Gablonz ­
  district  authorities  for  permission  to  manufacture  Chemicals...”  (Meissner  1954,  pp.  6,  7).
According  to  Benda,  the  application  of  a  mirror  backing  to  drawn  beads  was  invented
in  Morchenstern:
“An  additional  decoration  is  achieved  by  lining  the  inside  walls  of  blown  glass  tubes  with  silver,
whereby  the  beads  acquire  a  silver  mirror-like  appearance,  and  when  yellow  glass  is  used,  one
similar  to  gold.  This  mirror-backing  for  drawn  beads  was  invented  in  the  year  1853  in  Morchenstern, ­
  where  an  outside  assistant  taught  the  beadmakers  ..."(Benda  1877,  pp.  284,  285).
The  early  practice  of  sucking  the  silver  solution  into  the  bead  by  mouth  resulted  in
agriosis,  the  blue  to  black  discoloration  caused  by  silver  deposits  in  the  skin  (Parkert
1925,  p.  141).  The  “Moors  of  the  Mountains”  (Winter  1900,  p.  77)  was  the  name  given
to  these  unfortunate  people  who  suffered  from  this  occupational  disease.  As  a  result,
attempts  were  made  to  use  simple  suction  devices  with  rubber  pressure.  The
disadvantage,  however,  was  that  each  bead  had  to  be  lined  separately.  In  1878,  a  toolmaker
  was  supposed  to  have  introduced  a  lining  machine  (Lilie  1895,  pp.  165,  166).
This  process  was  improved  by  Parkert  (ill.218,  p.  268).  Using  a  principle  of
communicating  tubes,  it  was  possible  to  silver  coat  the  glass  tubes  in  bundles  (Parkert
1925,  pp.  141,  142).
Towards  the  end  of  the  19th  Century,  silver  electro-plating  was  also  mentioned:
“Very  beautiful  wares  are  also  produced  by  galvanic  silver  coating.  Since  glass  as  such  does  not
conduct  electricity,  no  metal  would  precipitate  onto  a  naked  glass  surface,  so  that  it  is  necessary
to  make  the  glass  conductive  beforehand.  This  is  done  with  a  shiny  platinum  coating  or  better,
with  a  simple  luster.  This  makes  the  glass  conductive  and  the  electro-plated  beads  are  in  no  way
inferior  in  appearance  to  true  silver  beads”  (S.  L.:  Die  Glasindustrie  des  Isergebirges,  Sprechsaal
1896,  p.  606).
In  1888,  Ignaz  Finger  from  Brunn  am  Gebirge  in  Austria  received  a  privilege
(No.  38/2989)  for  an  improvement  in  the  “Production  of  silver  coated  glass  beads.”  He
succeeded  in  making  perfectly  round  silvered  glass  using  the  following  method:  each
single  sphere  was  broken  off  with  a  sharp  Steel  device  right  after  it  was  blown  from  a
glass  tube.  This  produced  a  perfectly  smooth  opening,  whereas  the  beads  blown  in  a
row  (“Kiautsche”)  had  little  cylindrical  necks  at  the  hole.  The  silvering  itself  was  done  in
a  bath.  Afterwards  Finger  removed  the  outer  coating  by  shaking  the  beads  in  a  sack
with  bran  and  polished  the  outer  surfaces.
INTERIOR  GILDING
Ever  since  they  first  appeared,  being  able  to  make  the  so-called  “Parisian  fine-gold
beads”  and  the  “Real  Gold  Gilt  Beads”  (N.N.,  Lampenarbeit,  n.d.)  was  a  goal
producers  of  blown  beads  wanted  very  much  to  achieve.  A  bead  that  looked  like  gold
could  be  made  in  two  different  ways:  by  the  cheaper  method  of  lining  topaz-colored
glass  with  silver  or  by  inserting  gold  into  crystal  glass.  According  to  Parkert,  the  true