I have purchased a necklace of I think old glass beads.They have large piercings and faces on them.The smaller beads have two aliens,at least thats what they look like,and the larger bead has three faces and are of a different color.It's an eye catcher for sure,and has Malachite or possibly fake Malachite spacer beads.It has definitely been restrung,as you can see the gray wire.If anyone can add comments about the origin or date,,I will forever be in your gratitude.
You need to be a member of Adorned Histories to add comments!
Replies
Hi Frankie & Claude, The glass beads from tina4timeless on ebay are new beads, maybe some vintage. I bought a number from her, very nice, but definitely NOT old and they are newly made and copied from old Jatim beads. Jatim = Java/Timor
Dear Claude,
These are recent beads made in East Java, in the region of Jombang. I visited these beadmakers in 2008, but I have collected new Javanese glass beads since about 1989, when these industries first introduced their wares in the Western marketplace. They began, primarily, making non-authentic copies of ancient Javanese beads, Middle Eastern beads, and trade beads--and these are still staples of their work. Over the past twenty years, their work has improved greatly, and their reproductions are now, often. more authentic-looking--but still technically inaccurate. However, the beadmakers at Jember (farther East in Java) make much more technically accurate beads. I went to Jember in 2010, and met the top bead makers there.
I have written about this quite a bit at the Forum at beadcollector.net--where you can find many of these posts, by searching Beadman (my screen-name anywhere on the Net) and Java.
http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=%2Fopenforum%2F&a...
http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=%2Fopenforum%2F&a...
My expositions on Java in 2008 here:
http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&c...
http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&c...
Regarding "tina4timeless"--this is not a very good lead. Most of the eBay offerings are fakes that are misrepresented, and are poorly described. Thailand is not the source for most of these things. It is a matter of fact that Javanese beads are OFTEN sold out of Thailand, and falsely said to be "Thai" beads. God help anyone who tries to rely on eBay for anything like "information." It is a cesspit of mythology, misinformation, and fraud. In any event, glass beads are not produced in Thailand. That is to say, I am not aware of any Thai industries. (Ceramic beads--yes.) Further, your Javanese beads are not "face beads" (this name being reserved for a very different class of traditional production). They are loosely based on ancient head beads and pendants, from the Eastern Mediterranean--and now on fakes made in Western Asia and China. So, fakes of fakes.
I discussed this ongoing misrepresentation of recent beads as "antique," "vintage," or "ancient" in my paper for the Istanbul Bead Conference in 2008. This is a very helpful resource.
Be well. Jamey
See current Thai production of face beads @ eBay shop tina4timeless.