What makes a bead a tradebead?

[Polly]

I'm glad you asked.  We were actually just talking about that last month, and I have in my notes for the next catalog, to re-name some of the page titles and work on clarifying some of the descriptions.  

My confusion stemmed from the fact that both the old and the new beads are brought to us by the same African traders.  And up until just a few years ago, it was common to call all the beads that came from Africa "African Trade Beads" — whether they were made in Venice or India and traded through Africa, or made in Africa a long time ago, or recently made in Africa for the bead trade.

And please note ... we never try to mis-represent any of our stock.

Even though it is inaccurate, many people identify these broad categories of beads with the name "Trade Bead."  We'll try to be clearer in the future to separate the old beads that were used in gold and slave trade from the beads that are made today in Africa.

We will, for example, refer to the Ghana powder glass beads as Powder Glass beads and explain that they are made from crushed glass and ceramic colorants  instead of sand as the inaccurate but common name  "Sand Beads" implies.

Some beads, like the French Metal Beads on page 106, we say in the catalog "These are newly made beads, not old trade beads, but they work quite well with trade bead designs."
And for others, such as the Ethiopian Telsum beads and glass Skunk beads, we have both old and new beads, and show prices for each.

Others, such as the Ethiopian Silver, are now mostly newly-made beads for export, but we used to have older beads. Now the older beads are all gone, and new beads are being made in Africa to fill the void.

And with many others, such as the cast brass Ivory Coast Beads and quite a few of the smaller glass beads, our stock is a mixture of old and new beads.  Eventually these will probably all be newly made beads, too. But in the meantime, when a person orders, they can specify their preferences, and we will let them know if we have a strand that matches their request. Many of our customers prefer the newly made African beads for the designs they are making. Others are looking for old trade beads for their collections.

[Polly]

Regarding the African beads ...
after reading a few of the experts' books, we really don't know how many of our African Amber bead strands are truly Amber or not.  There isn't a good way to know without testing the beads, and the only tests destroy or mar the beads!

So although we are pretty sure that some of the African Amber beads, especially the older strands, are genuine Amber, we aren't willing to destroy any of the beads to find out for sure.

(For those of you reading this post, , see
But is is Amber? for a bit more information.)

So, although we aren't sure of the exact material they are made of, we continue to carry them because we like them as beads and necklaces.

(We <I>have</I> gotton some strands in the past that we knew were imitation, and we were sure to mark them as such. We haven't carried any of those for a few years, mostly because they weren't very interesting.)

[Russ Nobbs]

Hi oldbeader,

I wish I could remember all the people I talked to the day I wore Dee's strand of beautiful old African "Amber."  I wish I could put a face with your nickname.

It's been a few years since I talked to Polly about the old "amber" beads. I've learned a lot since then. You hit it exactly when you asked us  "Do you think they are plastic but you wish they were Baltic amber?"

The only true Baltic amber among the African beads we have is what the Gambian's call "really amber." We have a few strands as stock number 22-202. I don't think they have been in the catalog recently. As I look at one of our strands, there are a few beads on it that are suspect. But it probably is Baltic amber, irregular shaped, heavily scratched beads.

The rest of the African "Amber" are plastic. Old plastic in many cases, some pretty new.  Jamey Allen told me the old beads were made in Africa from rods of plastic that were made in Germany but traded into Africa by the French.

I have a few individual beads in my collection that are obviously plastic but have pieces inside them that appear to be Baltic amber. This is similar to the Polish or Russian souvenir bracelets made with chips and bits of real amber suspended in a transparent amber colored  plastic.

See http://www.gplatt.demon.co.uk/typesof.htm for descriptions of many types of natural resins and stories about amber from an avid collector's point of view.

So, although virtually no African "Amber" trade beads are genuine Amber,   the old strands are lovely, unique and valuable. As you saw from the necklace I was wearing, the beads that went through our hands 20 years ago were particularly beautiful.

The rods of plastic weren't just carved into beads in Africa. Depending on the tribe or region, they were embellished with surface markings, carved into a variety of shapes and probably changed by heating.  You saw the strand of new beads Dee was wearing that she heated. Using various methods she got some very pretty effects. We have pictures of her beads and her methods on our website at http://www.rings-things.com/projects.htm
Click on the fourth "Resin Beads Project" for details.

We will be clearer in our next full catalog about the nature of the "amber" beads. Thanks for being gentle when you chided us about our unclear descriptions in the past.

[Russ Nobbs]

Thanks, Jamey, for the rundown of quick tests for amber vs common plastic imitations.

Thanks, also for the link to one of your 3 Yahoo discussion groups.  For anyone interested in bead forums yours, the National Bead Society and the Beads-L groups are daily informative and interesting.

[oldbeader]

In your catalog pages you include new glass beads and new metal beads under the heading of tradebeads. These are not old and they were never used in any trade. Why do you call them trade beads?

[oldbeader]

It's good to hear that you are trying to be more clear about the old beads. I DO know what you mean about old beads being replaced by new ones. I wish I had kept more of the old ones that now seem impossible to fine.

What about the beads you call African "Amber" or African Copal "Amber" on your web site?  What are they made from?  Your section about that seems undecided. Do you think they are plastic but you wish they were Baltic amber?
What about the wierd shaped ones you call Freeform Beach Amber? What are they made out of?

Thanks for answering my questions. I know some of the people selling tradebeads don't like to talk about how real they are or how old they are.

[oldbeader]

Hello again, Polly,

I met your boss in Sante Fe last week. He was wearing some beautiful African Amber beads he said had been collected out of many strands over the past 20 or more years. They were the kind or dark amber with even darker cracks that I remembered from bead stores when I first fell in love with beads a long time ago.

I told him they were beautiful old amber. He insisted the beads he was wearing were old plastic. His wife was wearing some pretty nice beads too. She said they were new plastic resin from Asia that she had changed with a heat gun and a microwave.

You should talk to your boss and maybe get your stories straight about what you call amber.

[Beadman]

Hi Russ,

Actually, there are three nondestructive tests anyone can perform that will separate most fakes from real amber.  The rub, brine, and hot-point tests.  Of these, the hot-point is mildly disfiguring at a small place, but usually doesn't mar beads noticeably.

The great majority of "African amber" beads are phenolic plastic.  Less often they are thermoplastics.  (Of course, there are also actual amber beads, as well as local substitutes—including real copal.)  Phenolic plastics can be distinguished by all three tests.  When rubbed they yield the smell of carbolic acid (like a Revereware pan or any Bakelite—though this material is not actually Bakelite).  When burnt, they make the smell of burning carbolic acid.  (Very yucky! Be careful!)  In a brine, phenolic plastics sink like rocks.  (Three tablespoons of salt in 8 ounces of water.)  Real amber and some thermoplastics will float in this brine.

This is the simplist thing I will say here, because I have posted this information so many times elsewhwhere, I don't want to take up space.  Anyone interested in more details can find it at my Yahoo Group for Amber:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amberisforever/

[Russ Nobbs]

The National Bead Society forum I mentioned is currently not working. Old posts are visible but nothing new can be seen.

Jamey, myself and many others have moved our bead discussions to http://www.beadcollector.net/openforum/index.html