Antique Qing Peking Glass Necklace

San Francisco was the USA's main port to the Pacific from the Gold Rush on, for almost a century. Trade with China went back to the Pacific slave trade during the period where 'coolies' were imported en masse to build the Transcontinental railroad. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought with them whatever valuables they could bring from China. The introduction of these items into the state created an interest in Chinese art in the San Francisco upper classes. Based off the collections in the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and De Young Museum, we can see that even before World War 1, that California had massive troves of late Qing artwork. Glass beads such as these were worn by flappers in the 1920s and Art Deco fans.

In California in the late 19th century, demand for Qing glass increased. So much so that the best examples of antique Peking glass from this period comes, not from China, but from California.

This is a superior example of a multi-chrome Peking glass strand.