The Venetian black ambasador bead is probably one of the very best beads, as well as one of the most beautiful beads made by Venetian bead makers during the last half of the 19Th century. The black ambassador was made in oval form as well as the long bicone form. It was made in the color black, which is the one we see the most of. It was also made in the color blue, which we see the least of. The blue beads were not made in the same numbers as the black bead. Unfortunately, the best of the blue beads that were/are available were damaged. Finding a clean blue ambassador or similar blue floral in perfect condition is a chore. The best are in the hands of collectors and can be viewed in museums. Over the years we have collected many Venetian black amabassadors. We still have several of both forms in our person collection. One thing we notice today is the quality of the beads is declining. That is probably due to the fact that most of the beads in Africa are now in America. What we see on eBay now is beads that have probably been excavated. One can pretty much tell by the looks of the bead if it has been under ground for some time. The long black and blue bicone ambassadors, because of their very shape, are easily chipped on the ends. Many of the long bicones in our own collection are chipped. These are the ones that we purchased on a strand. In order to get the good ones we are forced to take the bad ones too. Their is no negotian with the African bead runners on this. Still, we have managed to find and keep sone very nice beads. As bead collectors we had two motives from the beginning, one, to collect beads. And two, to buy beads as an investment in our future. We found that beads were a better investment than trading on Wall Street.