[Jewelry making - Article 00075] - Re: [Orchid] What is this stuff?

[margery epstein]

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    Christina - These are traditional beads worn by various tribes of 
    West  and North Africa, primarily. They can vary in size from quite
    small  (often woven into the hair) to fairly enormous, way bigger
    than golf balls, and compared to fossilized amber, quite dense and
    heavy.  They may be Copal, which is defined as a "young" amber,
    actually collected from living trees, although some of it has been
    found in fossilized form.Copal comes from several parts of Africa,
    including Tanzania, Mozzambique, and Madagascar in the east , along
    the west coast from Sierra Leone to Angola, plus Niger and Zaire. 

    Beads  out of the Sudan, and most other areas,  are generally a fat
    donut shape, while from Mauritania, you may also find diamond-shaped
    beads, often cross-drilled, point to point, as well as straight
    through the center. It's similar in shape to the Ojo de Dios symbol
    (Eye of God). Smaller, barrel-shaped beads are also seen. Most are in
    shades of buttery golden yellow to deep red- brown, with a matte,
    waxy-looking surface. Some can be red. I've even collected some
    gorgous - and very pricey - parrot-green, but only in small beads
    -and I'm not sure they couldbe classified as copal, anyway. .I'm
    still sleuthing them. Personally, I have never seen or heard of
    white. 

    Copal Amber beads are virtually synonomous with the wealthier tribes
    of the Sahara, worn symbolically to denote marital status, wealth,
    even tribal mythic beliefs: The Dogon and Songhai of Mali,  the
    nomadic Fulani ( Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad, Nigeria, etc.),  the
    Guedra of Mauritania, the nomadic Berber tribes of the Maghreb
    (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, western Libya), the dowry necklaces of
    the Harer of Somalia. 

    Just as the enterprising Venetians of centuries past duplicated
    widely - coveted carnelian and other stones in glass for the bead
    trade, amber substitutes have been traded in Africa. So has real
    amber from the Baltic, for that matter. 

    Like so much of the authentic antique trade and tribal beads coming
    out of Africa, the old material can be pretty scarce these days.
    Several years ago, during their economic boom years, the Japanese
    were buying up all the copal amber  trade beads  they could get their
    hands on, and the traders' prices would double, then double again,
    within 2-3 months. Things simmered down, but I rarely see it  offered
    for sale anymore - that is, the real stuff, and it can be pricey.
    What I do see, seems to be some kind of resin, or maybe a
    reconstituted amber/resin material, especially in the case of the
    cherry reds, some of it opaque, some transparent. Even if they aren't
    real amber, it doesn't mean that they aren't real tribal beads.
    Manmade substitutes from Europe and Russia have been traded there for
    over a century. 

    If you are curious, I recommend Angela Fisher's Africa Adorned 
    (1984, Abrams Publishers). It is sort of the bible on the subject,
    with gorgeous photos. 

Margery Epstein


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