Photos

Comments

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  ait ouakli February 9, 2014 at 3:44pm

  :-) you and your love to amber, i can understanb,the amber magie exist since thausends of years.
  I know this necklaces, sorry it i maybe disapoint you but it is not bakelite,it was a time, a huge quantity of this sort of necklaces was on the markt,red glasbeads and different other big beads, i have 1 or 2 and try to find them to send you fotos
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  Frankie Carter February 9, 2014 at 4:54pm

  No, don`t worry Ait Ouakli, I don`t mind if the big beads are not Bakelite. i just thought they might be because of the clunk they produce when they are tapped together.

  But how can you tell by my photo that they are not bakelite? I would like to learn that.

  I have seen other necklaces with multiple seed bead strands and other big beads distributed among them, they just did not feel like this one. In fact I have one at hand right now.

  There are still currently large amounts of necklaces of somewhat similar materials being produced.

  I would love to see yours to compare.

  (It`s true - I am interested in the many fake "ambers", too).
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  Stefany Tomalin February 10, 2014 at 9:01am

  this is not a Naga necklace - the fastening would be different -probably a handmade "button and loop".

  some more commercial Indian necklaces have a similar row of metal beads up to the clasp.
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  Frankie Carter February 10, 2014 at 10:52am

  Thank you, Stefany, I was hoping you might respond to this.

  I do have a commercial Indian necklace with similar metal beads by the clasp but I just wondered about this one..... I know many Naga seed bead necklaces have a beadwork section at each end.

  Would you know anything easily available in the UK for testing bakelite?
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  Stefany Tomalin February 10, 2014 at 12:42pm

  Hi Frankie

  Are  you a member of the Bead Society of Great Britain?

  <http://www.beadsociety.org.uk/>

  We also have a facebook page

  <https://www.facebook.com/BeadSocietyofGreatBritain>

  Our secretary/treasurer Carole Morris has a special interest in Bakelite, acrylic and other early plastic jewellery which she collects and has researched in depth, and she is the person I'd ask first about anything to do with Bakelite.

  I know that some plastics fluoresce under UV light, some are testable with a hot point.

  You would find out whether its a thermoplastic (softens when heated) or thermosetting (once moulded its rigid) substance- 

  When people show me what they hope is real amber, if I reckon its not, then I tell them its genuine -possibly vintage, umbrella-handle plastic.

  Good luck!

  Stefany
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  Frankie Carter February 10, 2014 at 1:03pm

  That`s so helpful, Stefany, thank you so very much.

  Coincidentally I spent most of yesterday looking at BCN so read many of Carole Morris`s and your own comments so I do know of her. I love the gentle manner in which you reveal facts some people may not want to hear!

  I`m just being tight-fisted over the Simichrome - I can buy it quite easily but might have Co-0p cleaning liquid, for example, already in the house.

  I will certainly check the Beadsociety site.