African Amber, Oblate Medium Brown, With an Extra Hole, 23x33mm
SKU: JSD-891
Sale price
$30.00
Shipping calculated at checkout
Only 1 in stock
Description
- Rich, warm, medium brown oblate shape African amber bead, 23x33mm
- This bead has an extra hole drilled side to side for additional design options.
- Oblate (a slightly squashed sphere) is the most popular shape for amber in West and northwest Africa. In East Africa, barrels are preferred.
- The darker color indicates that this is one of the earliest African amber beads. The pre-1940 formula darkens over time, later resins did not have this property.
- The second image gives a side view but the color is lighter than the actual bead
- The cracks are considered decorative and are not structural flaws
- The material these vintage/antique beads are made of is an early synthetic called phenolic thermosetting resin. It was developed in 1910. Bakelite is the best known brand among several European manufacturers producing faux amber beads, jewelry and household products before World War II.
- Phenolic resin amber beads probably started coming to Africa as a substitute for real Baltic amber in the 1920s and 1930s and trade lasted into the 1950s according to recent research by Rosanna Falabella.
- Several generations of newer resin beads have followed, some better than others, at a variety of prices, but none can approach the beauty and durability of the original phenolic resins which are now almost 100 years old, and wear it well.
- All the African Amber beads being posted in June 2025 are from the collection of Joyce Diamanti, world traveler, bead collector, researcher, writer, editor and educator. Mine remain in strands for the time being. See AFO-106, 119, 120, 122, and AFO-124. The Berber strands AFO-157-AFO-170 are a newer type of resin.