Hello Nancy,
Needless to say, it is very difficult to make a materials ID based on a photograph, and so little information.
Nevertheless, I will hazard a guess:
These are modern glass beads, made in India and marketed in Nepal, and made to imitate amber. Very similar beads in the pink-to-red tonal group have been made to copy coral. Such beads are frequently sold as "traditional" beads from Nepal/India/Tibet, but in fact they are just recent beads looking for a market. They first appeared in the early 1980s, when India began cranking-out glass beads with a vengence—that were quickly misidentified and misrepresented.
So, if I am correct, these beads are less than 25 years old, have no ethnographic context nor tradition, and are merely conveniently sold as though they did and are older than they are.
I hope this helps. Jamey
Unless, being light for that many beads and all appearing rather smooth they might be those moulded plastic oblates made to resemble amber?
I agree with Jamey they are likely to be second half 20th century.
Can you please describe the holes sizes and smoothness or do they have a black deposit on the inside?
Stefany
Unless, being light for that many beads and all appearing rather smooth and uniform they might be those moulded plastic oblates made to resemble amber?
There is a tendency for plastic to accumulate fine greasy dirt that would need scrubbing to remove.
I agree with Jamey they are likely to be second half 20th century.
Can you please describe the holes' sizes and smoothness and do they have a black deposit on the inside?
Stefany
Hi Nancy - is it possible that these might be some type of processed horn beads? I got several strands of beads last year, made to look like "amber", that are actually processed horn bone. I'm attaching a link to a previous discussion. Most of the pictures in this discussion show darker beads, but several beads on my strands are the color of the beads in your auction listing.
Hello Donna,
As near as I know, oblate (or flatter) horn beads that imitate amber are limited to Africa, and come to us primarily from East Africa, and to a lesser extant Ghana (as the beads Evelyn showed in your link).
Since the question beads are from Nepal, it is fairly unlikely they are horn. Glass or plastic are far more likely. However, a basic tool for identification is to determine material—and anyone asking a question (ideally) ought to be able to say the material is "relatively hard" (Like glass), or relatively soft (like plastic). That would help a lot. (Nancy?)
There are horn beads made in India that imitate regional amber beads. Specifically, they copy the typical Burmese Hill Tribe amber beads that came into the marketplace in the early 1980s. However, their shapes are long slightly tapered cylinders and wedge-shaped disks—like the prototypes. The specimens I have have been tinted red or reddish, and so are quite different from the beads in question, all around.
Jamey
they do look like 20th c. Euro plastic made to imitate amber, deliberately oiled and/or abraded and/or dirtied up to add to their perceived mystique...
