If you look at the Wikipedia article on Faturan there is some more information. In the 1920's quite a few chemical industries were patenting various formulations of phenolic resin. One of them produced a material they called Faturan. The material was sold in shapes like tubes, rods, and sheet. Somewhere the solid stock was machined into beads. Maybe in Germany, or maybe in other countries. But please note that many other companies made phenolic resins, all with different names. But chemically they were all related, but not identical.
I cannot find any information which would help us determine if a certain bead is made from Faturan phenolic resin or a phenolic resin from another company. But I am still working on the history of phenolic resin beads.
It seems that the term Faturan is associated with beads made for prayer strands in the Middle Eastern countries.
Phenolic resin stock may still be purchased today, and then made into new beads. There are some old pieces for sale occasionally on eBay, but it is impossible to know if they were from the Faturan factory. New phenolic resin stock is being made in Thailand and probably a lot of other third world countries like China. To make beads, you must machine them from a solid rod or sheet.
I have not found any specific information about who made the phenolic resin beads in the past or who is making them now. But, I have found that some of the beads advertised as phenolic resin beads are another type of plastic. I can't tell for sure unless I have the beads to look at and test in person.
One thing I have observed about prayer beads - it seems they are being tested by touching with a hot point, probably a soldering iron. Phenolic resin does not melt, but the hot point will leave a burn mark. I have a strand of old beads made into a prayer strand and almost all the beads have a brown scorch mark, so I believe someone has done this to prove they are phenolic resin and not some other plastic.
To answer your other questions, Bakelite was the first phenolic resin to be patented, then the others like Faturan followed, but only by a few years. The first Bakelite production was about 1910 and probably others came along in the mid-1920's, especially after the original patents ran out. Many people have told me that phenolic resin beads made for export to Africa, Middle East, etc. came from Germany, but I have not found any documentation of bead production. Anyone could buy the sheets and rods so maybe the beads were made by small businesses that stopped production over 50 years ago. I do not have any information about new bead production either.
Are you a collector of old phenolic beads?
