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Stages of amber and copalPhoto on 2013-09-13 at 13.28

Posted by ingrid Langerak on September 13, 2013 at 2:05pm
These are jsut to show the different stages of patina and the wear on the holes:Low front the genuine amber, the top part almost worn through.Yellow bead on top with a normal hole, the orange bead ,in the middle, about 20 -30 years hole more edged through the thread and the dark one 50-100 yrs. with a much larger hole.The lovely irragular shaped bead (see through is the red copal (from origine) with the hole quite large because often these beads were worn with two large silver balls. and therefore the beads has rubbed into the beads and enlarged the hole.
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Comments

  • Harald September 16, 2013 at 10:52am

    You are right the wear and tear on old copal or amber beads (very rare in Africa) is a lovely sight. The old beads hanging next to each other on a string get rather flat at the sides as one can see very nicely in old (Birmese amber) beads from Naga tribes.

  • ingrid Langerak September 16, 2013 at 11:33am

    The yellow amber is Ethiopia was worn by the islamic women from the northern and eastern regions,quite intensive. But not by the christian highlanders. This the yellow amber. The smaller pieces do get less and less because as they are worn as a necklace without protection they do disappear. There are beautiful large chains (passed on pieces) specially in the Ogadin  region. I myself have been the owner of several beautiful pieces but sold them. Like the ones shown in Angela,s Fisher,s book. (the large ones for the women from the country side.  Now copal is more used (and already for many years plastic are replacing them). 

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