Photos

Comments

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  ingrid Langerak January 31, 2014 at 2:39pm

  Weight indications says it might be amber.  Had it been Ethiopian/Somalian amber, the beads would have a different usages erosion. thicker at the bottom and the hole eroded.  On this one I do see many very flat erosion. So now it is in the hands of the Moroccan experts. Gr. Ingrid.
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  Frankie Carter January 31, 2014 at 2:44pm

  Thank you, Ingrid.

  It is definitely amber, no problems with that aspect.

  Your mention of the holes was very useful. The holes of these beads are small without the usual wear I always associate with North African amber.
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  SARAH CORBETT January 31, 2014 at 2:53pm

  Hi love, i would need to see them in 'person!' too difficult to appraise from a Pic

  S x
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  SARAH CORBETT January 31, 2014 at 2:54pm

  but look good!
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  SARAH CORBETT January 31, 2014 at 2:59pm

  was this another Frankie special?!! ...you re amazing!!

  Sx
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  Frankie Carter January 31, 2014 at 3:53pm

  Well, if it`s the type used in Moroccan jewellery, I paid somewhere under a quarter of the current online prices. So does it quality as a "Frankietruffle" I wonder?

  It doesn`t matter to me really where it`s used. Whatever, it`s my favourite type of amber.

  I bought it from a Latvian seller who normally trades in old coins and what look like metal detector finds. Would that mean it has never been out of Latvia? Or might there be collectors of Moroccan-used amber there, too?This bead measures 2cms. The perforations are small and look very little worn. All the beads are flat edged but so are some of the amber beads I have in Moroccan necklaces.
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  ingrid Langerak January 31, 2014 at 4:40pm

  Frankie, it could be Russian, I have seen 25 years ago a beautiful warm necklace, with this types of amber alternated with the see through pieces.  Because the butterscot amber has always been more valued.  That necklace was bought in Italia on the market where the Russian ladies at that time sold their pieces in order to get foreign currency.
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  Frankie Carter January 31, 2014 at 4:51pm

  One of the many things I love about having an interest in ethnic jewellery is the peripheral knowledge that it can bring.

  Ingrid, I had no idea that russian ladies used to sell on the italian market for the currency. I did not even realise that there would be any avenues open to them for doing that. Or were they delegations already in Italy?

  Though I do remember how dollars were appreciated when I was in Moscow forty years ago.
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  ingrid Langerak January 31, 2014 at 5:01pm

  yes, Frankie, they were Russians visiting relatives or so.  So also in London there was a shop were Polish or Russian women brought their amber to be sold.  They used to get no foreign currency in these countries (like I didn.t while living in Ethiopia just a small token) This is with countries which do have a closed valuta.
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  Ethnic Embellishments January 31, 2014 at 6:05pm

  Lovely, from the photo, they look real, though again, need to see this sort of thing in person.