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dear Birdi and Shukgirl, Lets begin with the word "reconstituted." This term does not really belong in jewelry-material discussions. A material that has been ground-to-dust and glued back together has been "reconstructed." (There is also no "reconstituted amber"—though some folks mention it pretty often. Amber is "pressed," and the material is called "ambroid.") I think people like this word because it has five syllables, and sounds pseudo-official. A reconstituted material or substance is one in which some part of it that was originally there, and has been removed, is later returned. Potatoes are reconstituted, in the making of packaged mashed potatoes—by removing the water, which is later returned in cooking. I don't doubt there is some reconstructed coral floating around. However, it's not common—and probably a lot of this would really be dyed mollusk shell, or whatever. In the 1970s, some commercial manufacturers made reconstructed turquoise and coral stones for the fake-American-Indian-jewelry market. But I haven't seen the like for a long time. In order to make a realistic-looking bead from reconstructed coral, the material would have to be reformed in blocks, perhaps artfully dyed, and beads cut from it. I seriously doubt anyone is using this stuff to make molded beads. Or, if someone in fact is doing that, the results would not be very realistic. I would be interested to see specimens, if there are such things. Pink Pacific coral, such as comes from Hawaii and Japan, is not non-precious coral, as are the "sponge" varieties (and several others). This stuff commands quite high prices in the marketplace. (If anyone knows of a cheap source—I'd LOVE to hear about it!) I hope this is helpful. Jamey All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
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