| Original Message: But amber pseudonyms can be the opposite of helpful... |
|---|
|
Here's an image of my small personal pile of "cultural amber". These are man-made plastic from probably a few origins and eras. The huge one is 35mm x 47mm and weighs in at 2.5 ounces. Names like "African Amber" can really confuse a new customer for this material. A friend bought a cube bead like the 4 pictured here from Liza Wataghani at the last Gem Faire in our area. He was told that it was African amber. He was very excited to have a big fat amber bead. To learn later, when he showed it to me, that this is an accepted term in the marketplace, and that the material is man-made plastic. The pseudonym is another campfire name - to those who know exactly what it is, a convenient nic-name (also convenient for sellers) but it confuses newbies. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
|
|