Vintage Bead Box Subscription Review + Coupon – June 2017

Vintage Bead Box is a monthly subscription box providing you with beads and findings manufactured between about 1930 and 1970. Choose from a themed box (limited numbers available) or a surprise mix.

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

This review is of the Surprise Mix, $25 a month, box. 

The Subscription Box: Vintage Bead Box

The Cost: $25 a month. Save with 3 and 6-month subscriptions.

The Products: Beads and findings made from a variety of materials (glass, wood, semi-precious stones, metal, acrylic, etc.). Most were manufactured between 1930 and 1970.

Ships to: US (free), Worldwide (additional shipping charges will apply)

Check out all of our Vintage Bead Box reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory for more great craft supply and DIY project boxes!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

There isn’t a traditional information card with this box because owing to the nature of the contents, every “Surprise Mix” box could be a little different.

A note on prices: Because these beads are vintage, they can’t be purchased separately from any sources. Further, materials, country of manufacture, and more can be a little difficult to determine precisely. Thus, I have opted not to provide prices in this review.

Please note that no directions are given and you have to supply your own needles, stringing materials, tools, and findings.

Stone Beads

I have no idea what type of stone these are, but they are a good, neutral color and they will work great as spacers or accent beads. I don’t have many semi-precious beads in my collection so these are welcome.

Glass Beads (green)

These almost have the look of a semiprecious stone with the swirls of white in there. I love the shape, too, and this color will look great with several dresses I have in my closet.

Glass Beads (black)

I have had this obsession with black beads and crystals lately and have been buying a lot of them. So these are welcome!

Vintage Connectors

This was labeled as a connector but I think it is meant to be a hook and eye clasp. I suppose I could remove the clasp part and use the other pieces as multistrand connectors, but I like the idea of using it as a clasp so that is probably what I will do.

Skeleton Key

I knew when I opened the box, I had to use this in some way. It is definitely the most unique item I received this month from Vintage Bead Box. First I had to figure out what material it was made from (old keys can be steel or tarnished brass and tarnished brass can look a lot like old steel); I puzzled over this for awhile and then I suddenly felt very stupid when I realized all I had to do was touch it with a refrigerator magnet (since brass contains no iron). Long story short: it is steel.

Mother of Pearl Beads

I’ve been into more natural materials lately than I used to be. What I like about these is that the hole size is decent and they’re a bit smaller and more delicate than some of the other mother of pearl beads in my collection.

Bugle Beads

You’ll usually get some vintage seed or bugle beads with this subscription. I’ve been wanting to do some bead embroidery lately and these will be perfect for that.

Acrylic Beads

This blue color is so pretty. I also like that these are relatively large, but still lightweight due to being acrylic.

Metallic Glass Beads

I think these are meant to be faux pearls, or at least that’s what they looked like to me. (They also had small holes, as faux pearls tend to do.) I used most of them in a necklace this month. I seem to be really liking the faux pearls from this subscription, I tend to use them a lot!

Here is a necklace I made with some of the beads from this month as well as the key. I like to keep my pieces for this box simple so I can really show off the vintage beads!

Here is the back of the necklace. I held on to the clasp from last month and found a great use for it here!

Verdict: I did not calculate a value for Vintage Bead Box, as explained above, but if you divide the total cost by the number of items, you are paying about $2.78 an item. This seems quite reasonable to me. If you browse Etsy, you can find similar groupings of vintage beads and findings for prices ranging from $2-$7 (and beyond). Because I opted for the surprise mix, it does seem a little random (don’t forget you can also choose a themed box), but due to the fact that I have a massive bead stash, I can almost always find exactly the right components to go with the beads in the box. Now I kind of want to get some more keys (I found a LOT of potential projects when I went looking online for inspiration).

For what it’s worth, everything arrives clean. I suspect at least some of it is from deconstructed vintage jewelry (but honestly, that is OK by me – I get fun beads and things stay out of the landfill).  It is all clean and, so far, manufactured pretty well. Plus, a lot of the items are unusual and you’d have a hard time finding equivalents made from modern materials.

What did you think of the June 2017 Vintage Bead Box? Do you subscribe to any beading or craft boxes?