Posted 5 years ago
lentilka11
(278 items)
Friends, I would appreciate your opinions on these lovely plastic beads I bought on flea market. They weigh and feel like bakelite, they have this wonderful bakelite smell under hot water ( strong one), yet they did not pass the Simichrome test. Simichrome barely changed color. What could be the plastic type?
If some modern "fakelite" reached me, then I have to say they are good quality beads, especially for the 50 cents I paid for the necklace. Because of the scratches I would say this is vintage, though.
Thanks Ms.CrystalShip! I agree, love the beads!
Try Faturan. I think I spelled it correctly. I still have to give Kyratango the credit for that if I'm right. She told me what mine are, the only difference is that you cannot see thru mine as in your 3rd pic. but they sure look like it to me. Such a pretty color!
check you tube for videos on it too!
shareurpassion, thank you a lot, will check right away!
very interesting!
Is it possible that somebody else "cleaned" them previous to your purchase, and/or would that be a reason they wouldn't react much to the Simichrome polish?
AnythingObscure, thanks for the idea... do you think such a thing can happen?
You're welcome. Later I will try to show you the ones I have. They are not shiney like yours either but I think I have seen some like it. Funny how there is so much back and forth info on one subject online, right? It's somewhat like the ideas of bakelite.
As I understand it (without pretending to be anybody's 'expert' at all, mind you!) the 'Semichrome test' for bakelite is indeed the result of an ever-so-gentle "polishing" operation/process, in much the same way one would polish a tarnished silver/brass item -- but that bakelite, unlike most metals, actually oxidizes in a quite different way than metals over time...instead of darkening/etc, just developing a slightly duller outer appearance without necessarily changing overall color very much. THUS, if your beads had been recently "cleaned" already before you got them, perhaps there simply wasn't much of any of said oxidation left to react to your test -- I note you also mention they *DO* pass the smell/weight 'tests'...??
And maybe none of that really matters anyways overall -- fact remains they're a LOVELY string of beads...?? :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
shareurpassion, thank you so much!
AnythingObscure, I am not sure someone went as far - maybe in USA but here in Slovakia most people never heard of bakelite and I suspect no-one would bother to clean a string of old plastic beads so well. But they are so lovely - glad I snatched them! Muahaha.
I saw the following link on Etsy, but now that I see yours again, I'm not positive. Take a peek at these.
https://www.etsy.com/search?q=antique%20jade&ref=trnd9
Valentino97 thank you! The thread is just plastic string
shareurpassion thank you