Jatim Bead, Blue with White Spots, 25x27mm

GLA-89

Regular price $60.00

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  • Large blue and white Jatim eye bead, 25x27mm
  • Jatim is a contraction of Java and Timor, and relates to East Java in Indonesia, where the original Jatim beads were found. They are reliably dated to between 400-700AD. and possibly up to 900AD.  The name Majapahit was applied to them when they first began showing up in the international bead world. It was wrong. These beads have never been found in Majapahit sites, and the Majapahit Empire existed much later.
  • Jatim beads have a core. Copies of some original patterns, smaller and without cores, were made in antiquity. This bead has a core. Designs were applied to the originals in a technique similar to that used for millefiori, except that rather than rolling the bead core over a sheet of canes, it is believed a blanket of semi-molten canes was wrapped around the bead, in some cases leaving a "seam" where the parts met.
  • The influence of Roman and Sasanian Persian glass techniques on Jatim beads is supported by glass analysis showing that raw materials from Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire) and Sasanian Empire, were used in Jatim beads. And trade went both ways: Jatim beads have been found in a Byzantine Red Sea port in Egypt. 
  • Now the big question. Is this bead an original Jatim bead?
  • Like many famous and popular beads, Jatim beads have been copied. Possibly throughout the ages, in Java, as well as elsewhere. Very recently some nice, but obvious, copies have come on the market for under $10. The originals are going for around $450 
  • I bought these in Java in January 1992. Pete Francis was studying them around that time, but they weren't widely known. Nobody was talking about copies then.
  • I haven't handled any from archeological finds documented to be ancient so I can only compare mine to images. All I can say is they look a lot more like the originals than the copies that are on the market today. 
  • Since I can't guarantee that they are ancient and since I didn't pay that much for them, I'm offering them as examples of very interesting, often attractive, and certainly interesting beads. If you buy them and they turn out to be ancient, lucky you! If they turn out to be 20th century or earlier copies I hope you enjoy them anyway. If you don't you can always send them back in original condition for a full refund (minus shipping costs)
  • I'm posting them in the Ancient section to make them easier to find. I welcome any well documented additional info about these beads!