African Amber, Vintage, Small East African Shapes Under 15mm Diameter, Set of 18 Beads
Sale price
$60.00
Shipping calculated at checkout
Only 1 in stock
Description
- These beads are priced and sold by the set of 18
- Sweet little designer/collector set of East African vintage African Amber beads
- Shapes include round 12mm diameter, cylinders 12x11mm, ovals/barrels 14x12mm, small oblates 11x16mm, and a few others. Colors range from yellow to warm browns. One bead has been decorated with darker brown spots created applied with a heated needle or awl.
- These silky smooth fell of these beads make it easy to understand why amber is the preferred material for making "worry beads".
- 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.
- Only one strand available