There is a bead from the origional purchase of Manhattan on e-bay(#506348808) right now. The seller can prove that it is one of the origional beads as she has a letter from her uncle that says so!, ok!.
This would even be dubious if all the beads have been kept in a vault in Washington for all these years,let alone given to the Indi,excuse me Native Americans and have been bartered for God knows what for 375 yrs.
How can this bead be certified? I would go for it if I had the name and thumb of every person that ever owned it.How can this bead be professionally authenticated?
Spectroscopic or compositional analysis would be able to tie this bead to ones made in the same batch, as long as there is an authenticated and similar bead available from the same group.
Other than that the d@mn thing would have to be autographed.
I have often wondered if our manhattan would sell himself for $24 worth of trinkets. I may never know.
This site from the National Bead Society casts doubt on the whole beads-for-land story. They say that it wasn’t until 1870 that anyone suggested that the purchase was made in anything other than coins (60 Dutch guilders).