It is very difficult to make accurate decisions based on photographs—as you and most of us know. I would guess that the copal beads in Carl's strand are the ones that look compromised—like the bead we are discussing.

I remember quite well, the first time I saw a necklace that included what I eventually decided must be old copal beads, included with old amber beads, from a West African context. If I recall correctly, the necklace was from Mali, and said to be Fulani. The copal beads were distinctive because of their usually large size, combined with somewhat unusual shapes (oblate but tending to be squared-off), and particularly the surface characteristics suggesting "great age," or "great environmental damage." Since copal biodegrades quite a bit faster than amber (in years rather than centuries), it is a wonder there are any old copal beads around to be collected and examined....

But, since the time I saw that necklace, I have seen others (maybe five or more), all of which combine the same elements, and that appear different in composition/construction from either old amber necklaces and/or typical phenolic plastic constructions (such as came to us from Mali in the 1970s and later, and many of which are said to be "Fulani").

Real amber and real copal can look so similar, it would be impossible to tell them apart from a photo. You have to run a test—and ideally it ought to be a hot-point test (to determine relative melting point). The local copal materials that are harvested or recovered in West and East Africa tend to be pale-colored and translucent, and don't look like so much like amber. (this can be true of copal from other sources as well.) But this does not mean that all old copal is "native African copal"—even if from an African context.

I have beads in my collection that look like butter-yellow amber, but melt easily, that came from Iran. Similar beads (material-wise, not shape-wise) also come from out of Tibet. Also, some pressed amber may tend to be slighlty softer (have a lower than expected melting point) than typical unaltered amber. There are a LOT of variables.

I wish I had all the answers..., but I don't.

Jamey