Gee, Ned, it would be useful to know what the cultural and temporal
     context of the beads and house corners is!  That kinda helps, you
     know.
 
     I don't know about this subject in any great depth, but you might be
     able to find something useful in Horace C. Beck's "The Magical
     Properties of Beads."  Published in 1936, this hard-to-find little
     book was reprinted in THE BEAD JOURNAL (not to be confused with the
     journal BEADS which I edit), spring, 1976, pp. 32-39.  It looks at the
     European end of things from the Stone Age to fairly recent times.
 
     As for the color blue in beads, this has got to be the most common
     color for most North American Native groups as well as
     African-Americans pre 1900.  It is also popular elsewhere... e.g.,
     baby blue is the Mongolian good-luck color.  The question remains: why
     was it the most popular color?  Could be an interesting term paper or
     thesis here for someone.
 
     Karlis Karklins, Parks Canada