African Amber, Rustic Short Cylinder Beads with 1 Freeform, Largest 10x22mm, Set of 4
SKU: JSD-928
Sale price
$48.00
Shipping calculated at checkout
Out of stock
Description
- These beads are priced and sold by the set of 4 small beads
- Three small short cylinder beads and one freeform bead with swirls of darker color inside. The cylindrical beads look hand carved without the usual high polish. The freeform one looks like it was cut from a larger bead, but it has a smoother surface
- Most African Amber beads have perforations of 2mm or larger
- The material these beads are made of is an early resin called phenolic thermosetting resin. It was developed in 1910. Bakelite is the best known brand name among several.
- It probably started coming to Africa as a substitute for real Baltic amber in the 1930s and trade increased into the 1950s according to recent research by Rosana Falabella.
- When I first started buying African beads in Abidjan in 1970, the Amber beads were the most expensive.They had been clearly accepted into the culture, mostly by women in Morocco, Mauritania and Mali, where they were worn as necklaces and also in the hair.
- 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 resin.