Today you might barely find any evidence of the "Afrika Geschaeft", the African Money production,
in Idar-Oberstein anymore. In 1997 there was an exhibition hosted by the local museum about
the "Negergeld" (negro money), how the locals call african trade beads and there is no other one scheduled.
A few pieces of exemplary Idar workmanship are displayed in the "Deutsches Edelsteinmuseum"
(German Gemstone Museum) in Idar, and several trays with polished agate pieces, showing the variety of shapes
in which the beads were produced are put in a showcase in the museum in Oberstein.
There have been publications by the museum about agate jewelry, but they are all out of print and you might
be lucky to be there on a monday afternoon, the only time the library is open, to take a glance at once published essays
about the industry.
Your best chance to find out more about agate beads is to talk to old gem cutters and traders.
The retired folk remembers the old days of the africa business and they usually find the time to talk about it.
They have been involved in the business themselves and feel mostly sentimental about it. You hear the names
of still well know Idar-Oberstein gemstone houses: Wagner, Goerlitz, Zerfass, Weinz, Ruppenthal and Jerusalem.
One house is still actively trading with african beads. $25.000 worth of agate beads are shipped (by plane)
from Idar to Mali, Westafrica every month. The stones are mined and cut in Brazil from a german founded
cutting facility. The wages are low compared to Germany and the quality of the product does not matter
too much anymore, since there is no competion and only a small marked left.
Only a hundred years ago the african bead trade and production was a pillar of the Idar-Oberstein gemstone industry.
Today its seems forgotten and not even recognized in a proper way even in the museums. The product itself was
certainly not a piece of art, it was a mass product, but its importance for the gem industry in Germany should not
be undervalued. Besides the direct profit that was made with the agate beads, the trade developed the connections
to resources of more valuable gems as well as distribution channels for today's products. A lot of rough gem material
is coming out of Africa to Idar-Oberstein since colonial times, but it seems there is no connection between modern days
commodity market and the agate trade of the 19th century.
Today you might barely find any evidence of the "Afrika Geschaeft", the African Money production,
in Idar-Oberstein anymore. In 1997 there was an exhibition hosted by the local museum about
the "Negergeld" (negro money), how the locals call african trade beads and there is no other one scheduled.
A few pieces of exemplary Idar workmanship are displayed in the "Deutsches Edelsteinmuseum"
(German Gemstone Museum) in Idar, and several trays with polished agate pieces, showing the variety of shapes
in which the beads were produced are put in a showcase in the museum in Oberstein.
There have been publications by the museum about agate jewelry, but they are all out of print and you might
be lucky to be there on a monday afternoon, the only time the library is open, to take a glance at once published essays
about the industry. 
One house is still actively trading with african beads. $25.000 worth of agate beads are shipped (by plane)
from Idar to Mali, Westafrica every month. The stones are mined and cut in Brazil from a german founded
cutting facility. The wages are low compared to Germany and the quality of the product does not matter
too much anymore, since there is no competion and only a small marked left.
