| Original Message: Recognition |
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Hi Russ and all, I'm not really guessing. I RECOGNIZE this bead as being a typical example of plastic repro zi, as has been made at Tibet for quite a long time. These were first brought to my attention in 1974 in the premiere issue of The Bead Journal, where Robert Liu did an article about them. (At that time I knew squat about zi beads, except that they existed and cost "$100 apiece.") So these have been made for well over thirty years (as I have remarked here before). Because of my interest in Tibetan culture, and all things beads, I began to pay attention to the issues of beadmaking and counterfeiting, to the technology of their manufacture, and to the industries that produced imitation beads (such as Czechoslovakia and Germany). I was in-part interested in plastic reproductions because of the significant research I was pursuing at that time, related to fake amber. By 1985, during the International Bead Conference aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, the paper I gave for that conference was specifically about plastic imitations of zi beads--including a presentation of all the patterns I had documented, the fact that there were two primary types (that I called the "neat" ones and the "sloppy" ones), that some had metal cores inside to make them heavy--and I described how they were made and their likely time and place of manufacture. I was mistaken about the latter, because I suggested these were European beads, made from acetate plastic. (At that time I could not imagine that anyone in Tibet or India was capable of making sophisticated 2-part inlaid plastic products. And in particular I wanted to dispel the MYTH that these beads were made "from old recycled 78 RPM plastic records"--the prevailing story that was circulated at that time. A short time later, I was assured by several people (not all at once, of course), that there were two brothers in Tibet who made these beads. So I had to alter my perspective somewhat--as one always does when new information is gleaned that is seen to be reliable. Eventually, I was shown a series of plastic components that demonstrate the manufacturing process in a series of steps (just as I had suggested in 1985), that came from these two brothers in Tibet. Furthermore, over the years I noticed that every few years a NEW STYLE of these beads, in terms of size, shape, or design would appear on the market--indicating that this was an alive and ongoing industry. At one point, they even made zi bangles--as I show in my Arts of Asia article. Of course, this doesn't mean that new plastic fakes are ONLY made by the brothers in Tibet. It's possible the Chinese now make them too. (Or something similar--and this, as everywhere in bead study NOW, has to be considered and looked for.) But I recall that in 1998, when I went to China, in Beijing there were bushel-baskets-full of plastic zi beads, that were misrepresented as being "ancient zi beads from Tibet." I, of course, bought a representative group of specimens. So, when I say "I recognize this bead," I hope you will try to believe me. Jamey All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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