As with inlaid shells mentioned earlier, beadwork is characteristic of a particular theatre, namely Turkey. As an indigenous craft it naturally became something that Turkish prisoners began to make in order to trade with their captor.

Also, as with inlaid work, given only one theatre of the war produced this type of work, quantities are very limited, made more so by their fragile nature. The purse and snake illustrated below are the only examples I have, but there is a link in the Links page to a site set up by a collector with several examples of snakes and some excellent background information which I strongly recommend.

The only comment I would make on these items is that the making of beadwork animals was a pastime of ladies in Victorian England, so unidentified examples, without ‘Turkish Prisoner’ motifs etc, may not necessarily be trench art...