Posted 8 years ago
alliececile
(85 items)
I paid $2.00 at a garage sale for these beads. They look like amber, feel like amber and when heated have a pleasant sweet smell. What prevents me from saying Amber is that I can see a line in the centre of some of the beads. What do you think?
Your necklace is most likely pressed or reconstructed amber.
http://www.ambericawest.com/pressed.html
The property of Baltic amber, which has been well known for ages, namely that it softens and becomes malleable in a temperature of 140-200oC in an air-tight environment, became the basis for the attempts to join together minute, irregular grains into large regular cylindrical or plate-shaped forms, useful as semi-products for the most sought-after objects: round or elliptical beads for necklaces, the walls of chests or for once-fashionable mouthpieces for pipes and cigarette-holders.
Thanks Efesgirl. That was a very interesting article. I think that is probably what I have. Early pressed beads. They are not perfectly round or the same size. The pressed ones now seem to be perfect and very difficult to tell.
You're welcome - is this a necklace or what?
It has seven beads strung on leather string. Not sure of origin because they belonged to the aunt. Was in a box with Native Canadian stuff.