If you're in the Bay Area today, please stop by the monthly meeting of the Bead Society of Northern California meeting at 7:30 PM in Emeryville. I'll be presenting a talk on the history of PF (phenolic resin) beads with emphasis on the African trade, entitled

"The Story of "African Amber" - Are Those Beads Really Plastic?"

I'll have display items to examine and a short hands-on session after the talk to help people identify PF beads.

The attached link gives more detail. Note that the published title got mangled a bit - there is nothing in my talk about ancient beads! In addition to PF, I am including some history of Celluloid and Galalith, which pre-dated Bakelite.

I'll be giving the talk again at the Los Angeles Bead Society on March 1.

And thanks again to all the BCN members who have helped me research PF beads!