Posted 6 years ago
AnythingOb…
(1778 items)
I just *KNEW* I had another similar bead somewheres around here when I posted my yellow one last week...
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/240063-what-is-this-large-silver-and-yellow-bea?in=user
but this red one just took a little more "digging" to finally lay my hands on again. <lol>
It came to me (like and with the yellow one) already "loose" from anything it might have ever first been part of, and seems to share many similar characteristics with the yellow bead though it is a completely different shape, color, and pattern on its silver end caps. It is about 1-3/8" long and 7/8" across, and weighs about 12-1/2 g.
The red material this one is made of is not quite as translucent nor nearly as grained as the yellow bead, but still does show some spots/figuring within. It also shows slightly more still existing 'not quite completely polished away' scratches/etc than the yellow one, presumably from its original maker/manufacture.
This bead (unlike the yellow one) actually seems to positively respond to the "409 test" for bakelite. Fully admitting I'm still learning about the many forms of bakelite, I am thus not certain whether I should trust that test or not...I also sorta thought that bakelite was generally an opaque material...?
Once more, if anybody has any clues or suggestions I'd love to hear them -- please speak up and maybe help edjumucate me further! :-)
Faturan?
https://www.rubylane.com/item/338449-RL3836/Huge-Amber-Bakelite-Faturan-Prayer-Beads
I have several similar beads around, 2 or 3 like your yellow one, another like this faux coral one & one more that is black & amazingly heavy for its size. Except for the one like this red one, I bought them from someone who had both a bead shop & a gallery for 'ethnographic art'. He had bought the collection of a retiring artisan who used these Himalayan elements in her work. About the egg yolk colored one, the shop owner told me they were an early form of artificial amber, without going into specific chemistry. He referred to the silver bead caps as 'hill silver', which seems to be sort of code for silver of low, maybe undetermined, grade. Not known whether Tibetan, Nepalese or...?
THANKS SO MUCH (albeit a bit belatedly I guess...sorry?!) to kyratango & cameosleuth for your interesting comments and information -- also to fortapache, valentino97, lentilka11, aura, & Watchsearcher for the <love it>s!!
Your reference to the general quality of the silver end caps would indeed seem to ring true with both my beads. Though somebody somewhere obviously made an attempt for them to look "fancy", closer examination quickly reveals that they're otherwise actually rather crudely made/cast seemingly with the minimum possible quantity of metal to their makeup. That metal does act like at least some kind of silver 'alloy', as it tends to tarnish/polish in a similar fashion.
After Tb1221 showed another very similar looking pendant/bead this afternoon, I'm newly hoping some fresh info about what they all are might surface??!!
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Yep! I remembered correctly! Kyratango gave you the correct answer too! And how funny that you have the same bead as the other post. (now I can't remember the person that posted it other than the Tb and numbers) Your mystery is solved!