| Original Message: Thanks Dannoh |
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Thanks for your kind and generous comments, and glad you liked the article. You have "outed" me - I got into the history of phenolic resins and beads in great detail since I have Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering (basically, plastics) and I actually spent a large part of my career in industrial and government labs, wearing a white lab coat...still have a few of them as mementos. I worked with phenolic resins for aerospace applications during my career. One day, after getting deeply involved in collecting old glass trade beads, I spotted a woman at a bead show who was wearing some intricately carved phenolic resin beads. When I realized they were phenolic, I got really interested in where they came from and where they originated, and started my research. Still don't have the answer to the big question of WHEN this particular faux amber arrived in Africa and WHERE in Europe they were made for export to Africa. A lot of people have opinions but I look for documented evidence. The information I'm currently looking at involves trade to the French West African port of Dakar, which appears to have been the gateway for goods flowing into Mali and Mauritania (French Sahara)- the areas where the carved and decorated phenolic beads are found. The answers are out there, somewhere, maybe in old shipping manifests. Best regards, Rosanna All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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