Hi Rosanna -- I don't really have anything to add, but I just wanted to say thanks for sharing such interesting research!

Abe

Ha ha!

What a surprise it was to see this necklace on here I thought I was seeing things! I sold it to you... I hope you were happy with it and I am so glad it made it across the pond intact. I love antique and vintage beads and I scour all the local brocantes and flea markets. I had no idea that it might have been that early. it was a pleasure to see it again.

sammi

I continue to be fascinated with the history of plastic beads, especially if they were made to imitate other materials: ivory, amber, coral, tortoiseshell, etc. And I have a compulsion to figure out how to identify them without using laboratory equipment (that I no longer have access to, unfortunately!).

It looks like it might have been a paste that was molded and/or extruded somehow. Do you know what it is?

I would have to test one to be sure - or you can do a hot needle, hot water, or reamer test yourself - but they look like beads that are made in Morocco (and probably other N. African countries) by melting scrap plastic, adding a colored plastic to change the color, mixing in a small metal pan over an open flame, then forming beads by hand. The hand-forming gives each bead an individual shape and is reminiscent of the irregular shapes found in natural amber beads that were traded to Africa over 100 years ago.

The hole is made by piecing with a hot poker. If you can see the "finishing" on the holes, you may have an important clue. After beads are made like this, there is a flashing around the hole that has to be ground off. Here is a picture of some beads of mine that were made this way.

I also have beads that look like yours, with a more granular surface, and they appear to have been made with a light colored core material, covered with a very stinky, plastic-smelling (styrene actually) coating that also adds to the irregular appearance (second photo).

My best estimate is that these are fairly new, hand- made "ethnic style" beads from Africa.

"1856" is much too early! This was the time of the first experiments in making cellulose/nitrate or nitro-cellulose artificial plastics. Dependable (but still dangerous) formulae were patented in 1869 (some sources say "1868")—and it was AFTER this time that commercial products would have been manufactured. However, due to the physical breakdown of these plastics (occurring because of ambient heat and exposure to ultraviolet), very few of these really early plastics remain. Some of mine self-destructed inside a protective box in storage.

https://www.britannica.com/technology/celluloid

I tend to focus on when the invention took place. Thanks for adding this clarification.

Since most books provide "1869" or "1868" as the date of invention (some confusion resulting, perhaps, because there were parallel experiments in both the US and England), the date of "1856"—which pertains to earlier experiments, resulting in a different product—is too early.

My point is that when people read what you wrote and they look at their Celluloid beads, they will think, "my beads might be from 1856." However, it is much more likely that ANY Celluoid beads one may come across would have post-dated 1870. People tend to gravitate to "early" dates in time ranges, even when this is highly unlikely. You precipitated the same issue in your dating of cast phenolic plastics—unfortunately. My primary goal is always to provide a reasonable time for actual products that one may come across, as well as to present historical facts accurately.

Also, since Celluloid was essentially replaced the the safer cellulose-acetate, any such beads will be from even later in time, and will usually be misidentified as "Celluloid." I suppose this is an expected and forgivable error. of no great importance. either. JDA.

On Celluloid (cellulose nitrate):
Celluloid was not universally replaced by cellulose acetate (CA), except in some applications that had significant problems with flammability, like movie film, and that was around 1950 (info from Wikipedia). In referring to my 1943 Handbook of Plastics by Simonds and Ellis, there are a good number of listings for the trade names, properties, etc for both materials. These two plastics have different properties. At this point I don't have documentation of any beads made from CA and so can't comment whether Celluloid beads stopped being produced in favor of CA, and when that may have occurred. I only have a few Celluloid beads and other articles, and don't think any of them are actually CA - but I'll be doing more testing on that point.

Celluloid is more dimensionally stable than CA, when exposed to moisture, since it absorbs less, so perhaps CA beads did not work very well - just don't know . I don't have any more technical clues about bead manufacture of either material at the moment.

I'm assuming that the Sachse cards are pre-1920, and I have a 1912 ad for celluloid beads, so the best I can do right now is assume Celluloid beads existed in the early 1900s. I believe Celluloid beads, buttons, etc were still being made right into the 40s, or even later, but I'm still researching this.

I apologize for any confusion about when the earliest beads may have been made from Celluloid. I once saw someone claiming their beads were made of Parkensine, a celluloid trade name that dates from 1862. At this point, I'd say the earliest date of Celluloid beads is unknown, but yes, likely after the commercialization of Parkensine.

On cast phenolic resins: These were being made commercially by the "teens". My contact in London says there were ads for Faturan, for example, in 1917. I hope to confirm this next year when I'm in London. There is documentation of significant cast phenolic resin production in England by 1919. Again, I have no firm info on when the first beads were made from phenolic resins. I'm still looking. I think pre-1920 phenolic beads exist, though it may be impossible, ultimately, to find confirmation of this.

I don't feel responsible if people take this to mean THEIR phenolic beads may be pre-1920, if that's what you're getting at.