BEAD CLASSIFICATION
	The following articles were prepared in recent years in response to various "philosophical" and "taxonomical" questions related to bead collecting that have so far been given limited serious thought by "professional" bead collectors.  We hope to improve and elaborate further on these themes.
	What is a Bead?
	"Anything with a hole that can be strung" is not the answer!
	Beads and Nonbeads
	There are four categories of beads.  How things become beads.  How beads become nonbeads.
	Taxonomy and Nomenclature of Ornaments
	Clarifies the parameters of ornament classification and places beads in their logical context.
	Notes on the Bead Classification System
	Formalizes a notation for bead identification and classification.
	Description, Identification, Classification
	Brief statement defining what should be obvious, but don't let the hobbyists fool you.
	Bead Names -- Bead Types
	More simple concepts frequently muddled.
	Review of Beck's Descriptive System
	Horace Beck is considered the father of modern bead "research".  This article discusses his "Classification and Nomenclature of Beads and Pendants", which is, in fact, a shape classification central to what amounts to a five-pronged descriptive system.   Clarifications and further elaborations are presented here.
	Humor: Cataloguing Futility
	The moral of the story:  Start with blank predefined catalogue pages and fill them in, the way you build your stamp album.