Colour differences between angel skin, japanese salmon colour and good colour mediterranean.

This was certainly not boring! I learned alot. Thank you for taking the time! I appreciate it very much!

attempt at a better picture

There are 3 types of coral which are clearly identifiable in the picture.

The darkest red is very good colour mediterranean coral. Sardinian coral is often like this. I think the colour is sometimes referred to as ox blood "sangue di bue" in Italian. There are, of course, other names for the same colour, just to make life difficult or interesting.

The large pink and salmon pink beads in the centre are Japanese coral, easily indentifiable by the white streaks which are part of the spine or soul "anima" which runs along the centre of Japanese coral branches. This is, in my experience, the most comon kind of Japanese coral. The descriptions of the Japanese varieties I have read talk about bright red "rosso vivo or cerasulo" (momo) and dark red "rosso scuro or moro di Giappone" (aka). The Japanese coral in the picture corresponds to neither description, neither bright nor dark, but the sources indicate that there is great variety in colouration within each species. This is true of coral whatever its origin but perhaps especially true of Japanese coral. I think we're talking about cerasuolo (momo) in this case. Partly because I remeber it is the most common and also because it's very common to find large beads and the branches of this kind of coral are particularly large.

If you look at the pictures that David posted in the thread "Another old coral" you will see that most of the beads, which are unusually large, are of the pink and salmon pink colour and that the largest beads in the two strands that Joyce? is holding are also pink salmon pink.

The strand running round the outside is also made up of pink beads but this time they are smaller and range between very pale pink, angel's skin "pelle d'angelo" to salmon pink. There are only two or three beads in the strand that are identifiable as Japanese coral in that they have the white spine running through them. The drilling often corresponds with the "anima" in an attempt to ensure that the white patches do not detract from the uniform colour of the outside of the bead.

You can see pitting, blackening and whitening. I think this is common at the base of the branch where it anchors itself. It is also comon where you have imperfections in the coral due to the presence on the branch of other marine organisms. Again you can see the "anima" in the two most rounded beads.

In this picture you can see a Himalayan repaired bead from Nepal. Looking at the colour it could be mediterranean or Japanese but the "anima" is visible at the hole. The branch is med coral from (bought in) Morocco and a horn "corno" from Trapani but almost certainly made from recently fished North African coral. The branch is quite visually interesting because you can see the position of the coral polyps when they were alive.

Nearly all of the coral on this strand is identifiable as Sciacca. It is often similar in clour to salmon pink Japanese coral but lacks the anima and is often darker and older looking. In fact it is often described as fossil coral. It was discovered in huge quantities off the coast of Sicily at sciacca at the end of the nineteenth century, piled up in deep layers on the sea floor. The more the coral was fished and the deeper in the layers it came from, the darker it became and the worse the quality.

The amount of coral found lead to the collapse of the market price, putting many out of business from the fishermen to the companies to the home workers. The price went down to such an extent that one company started producing wall tiles using coral!

Colour and shape. The large tube shape is typical of West African coral typically found in Nigeria. It is still used today as a status symbol by men and women, often in long rounded rigid necklaces. The royal regalia for the Ashanti (I think) consists in part of coral tubes made into nets which are worn on hats and over robes. The effect is to clothe the person who is to be crowned in coral.

The branch shapes are typical of Moroccan and North African coral. The industry at Torre del Greco called this kind of coral "Maometti" or Mohammeds. In fact the material, branches of this size and shape was called "Barbaresco" presumably to indicate that it was destined for the Barbary Coast of North Africa.

Again you can see a variety of colour, from dark red to pink to brown to white. The brown coral is toward the extremme of Sciacca type "fossil" coral. The white has been attacked possibly by something acid and or heat.

The large pitted bead in the centre of the pic comes from Morocco, or should that be Yemen, or should that be Torre del Greco, or should that be wherever inthe Mediterranean it was originally fished!

I bought it in Morocco from a very nice old guy who had become rich importing coral into Morocco from Yemen. It almost certainly came to Yemen from Italy, probably from Torre del Greco though it could have been from Genova or Livorno or from Trapani depending on how long ago it was fished and turned into a bead. Remember that Italy has been expertring coral to the orient for the last 2000 years at least. Then again it might have come through the hands of the Phoenicians or the Arabs in North Africa, Spain or Sicily.

It is so dense,hard and glassy that I have wondered if it is actually carnelian agate. It is pitted and shows colour variation. Some of these characteritics I have come to associate with older beads. Anyone who deals with beads made from natural materials, that cannot be dated through manufacturing technique, colour and pattern, knows the feeling that some characteristics point to some beads being older than others. The density and polish seem in particular to be charcteristics of old coral.

The beads behind are Japanese coral but are quite an interesting shape. They have bevelled ends so if strung tightly together they will form a circle. Never a very successful shape in my opinion because if they are strung tight they loose that essential fluid quality of a good necklace and if they aren't strung tightly they change direction randomly.

These beads also have white streaks. So what distiguishes a white streak from the "anima" of Japanese coral? The anima is long as it runs the length of all the branches. You can often see where it goes through the bead, where it goes "in" and "out".

On Mediterranean coral white patches and streaks are usually associated with other, physical, imperfections such as pitting and particularly with black pits or cracks which are then surrounded by white streaks. Presumably these are not naturally ocurring characteristics of the coral branch itself but are due to the action of marine organisms or physical incrustations on the suface of or penetrating the branch.

This is dyed coral from before the huge wave of dyed coral that has flooded the world in the last ten years or so. You can see that some was originally white. I don't know if the brown coral was originally white.

One characteristic of dyed coral is that it is almost alalways possible to see the "grain" of the coral, like the grain of wood. With precious corals ie Mediterranean or Japanese and presumably Pacific coral it is much more difficult to see the grain.

Some dyed coral such as apple or sponge coral is easily indentifiable. It is not very dense and can only take a polish because it has been treated with resin.

I would be interested to know the source of the dyed corals and anything about the varities that are dyed. Presumably they come from the Pacific Ocean.

Hello Brian,

I bought a strand of similar beads in Nigeria, that I thought were originally white beads that had been dyed pink, and that most of the pink dye had faded, returning the material to white.

However, I have since documented a piece of natural coral, still a branch, and uncut, that has just these same characteristics. The outside is white (or pale) and the inside is pink.

I'll try to post a photo when I return next week�and of some other specimens as well.

I cannot agree with your explanation about grain visibility. Although it's possible dying may make grain more visible, fundamentally, different varieties of coral have different coarsenesses of grain. In many hard corals the grain can be so fine it cannot be seen without a lens. In others, the striations are very visible with the naked eye. These are SIZE issues. It's not dying that enhances the grain, in these instances.

Currently, most dyed hard coral is "bamboo" coral, treated by Chinese manufacturers. There have been quite a few posts here discussing that topic, that you can find by Searching the site. Most current dyed coral was originally tan or yellowish.

Cheers, Jamey

I believe it is a characteristic of the coral that is used as raw material in the dying process. This coral appears to have a more visible grain than "precious" coral.

You mention that this coral is tan or yellowish.

In fact if a coral is hard, compact and will take a polish and has a relatively uniform appearance it could legitimately be regarded as a precious coral as long as the colour is attractive. It's geographical origin is less important than its physical and aesthetic characteristics. Clearly if the coral has an unattractive colour this can be changed if it has visible grain this may to some extent be hidden through the dying process.

Even among precious corals there is enormous variation.

With regard to the branch of coral that you mention having a white exterior and pink interior, do you think the colour variation inside could be in any way comapable with the "anima" of Japanese coral? All the Japanese corals including white "bianco" (shiro) have colour variation, the coral with a red surface has a white vein, the coral with a white surface is also described as having a red or pink vein.

Hello Brianbrian

I think you confirm what I said in a post on coral, part of a very recent previous thread here, that because of variations in the density of the grain, a dye will soak in differently and often accentuate the striations.

I just tried to mail you individually but my computer (and my brain) is so old-fashioned that I'm unable to send you a personal message without your private email address. I guess Joyce could forward you mine and if you wish, you could reply so we can establish contact.
From the way you write and spell, I deduce that you may be British? If so, are you based in UK? I'm in London.

best wishes
Stefany

Didn't manage to email you either. I'm currently based in Sweden.

I am a confirmed and long standing lurker on this forum. I have been planning to make a contribution about coral for some time but have not and am still not happy with my pics.

If my eyes don't deceive me 999beads coral is bright red and has white marks in association with black pitting which would, in my opinion, make it genuine mediterranean corallium rubrum.

I have heard a lot about coral from various parts of the world other than the med and the pacific. Mention is often made of the sea around India, the Red Sea and the Atlantic coast of Africa. I have actually seen coral which I believe to have come from the Red Sea and I have been told tens of times by Yemenis that their coral was from the Red Sea. The coral which I saw was in a jeweller's shop in Dhahab in the Sinai in Egypt and had been bought by the shopowner from the fisherman. It was salmon pink in colour, had quite large branches and had not been professionally worked.

The Atlantic coast of Africa produces coral as it has been a source of coral for the industry of Torre del Greco. A coral prospecting submarine reputedly ended its days on the Cabo Verde islands off the coast of Africa and coral was, again reputedly, found but evidently not enough to keep the submarine in business or to start a coral rush.

The same point can be made about the coral of the Red Sea and the coast of India. Either there isn't enough of it or the quality isn't good enough for it to warrant the development of a local industry of any size fishing or working it. It's worth remembering that we are talking about alleged sources of coral right on the doorsteps of 3 of the four major historical coral markets: West Africa; Yemen and the Middle East;India, and through Nepal,Tibet and Mongolia.

In my opinion local coral, especially if it is worked with any degree of finesse or if it conforms to the characteristics of Italian worked coral, is most likely to have come from the traditional coral working centres in the Mediterranean.

The pic is of part of Turkman woman's (shouldn't that be Turkwoman!) head dress.

I plan to cite some sources for my info but I am notoriously unreliable.

I've only started buying coral over the last few years, and your info and examples are very appreciated! Can you recommend a good book on the subject?
Best, Jeff

Ther are books on pearls and amber and of course on gem stones but as far as I'm aware there is no book which deals exclusively with quality and variety in coral.

There are a number of books about coral which have some information about this subject. The best is by Basilio Liverino (see reference below). In fact if you google his name you may well come to the site of his family's business in Torre del Greco. I don't think it's in English or if it is it's in that very special kind of English which only the Italians can get away with. His book is available in English. Nearly all the available documentation is in Italian but just like with the Venetian glass bead industry there is not as much as you would expect or hope for.

The "Vie del Corallo" books are very beautiful and very informative (not about quality and variety)though mostly pics. They deal with coral in the jewellery and costume of different traditional "ethnic" markets for Italian coral. The first and best is about coral in Mongolia and is based on information and items collected by the representative of another family coral firm who travelled to Mongolia on business, in the mid 20th century I think.

Liverino,Basilio. Il corallo.Esperienze e ricordi di un corallaro. Bologna, Analisi 1984, cm.23x28,5, pp.IX-229,centinaia di tavv.a col.nt. leg.ed.cop.fig.a col. Coll.Di Cultura Materiale e Storia Industriale.

Liverino,B. Red Coral jewel of the sea. Traslated by J.H.Johnson. Bologna, Ediz.Analisi 1989, cm.23x28, pp.208, centinaia di ill.e tavv.a col.nt. leg.ed.cop.a col. Testo in inglese.(Altra copia,idem,ediz.in giapponese). –

A.A.V.V., Le vie del Corallo. Il corallo nella gioielleria etnica della Mongolia, a cura della Banca di Credito Popolare di Torre del Greco, ed. Electa Napoli, 1996, p. 12.

A.A.V.V., Le vie del corallo. Secondo Itinerario. Il corallo nel gioiello etnico indiano, a cura della Banca di Credito Popolare di Torre del Greco, ed. Electa Napoli, 1998, pp. 11 e sgg.

A.A.V.V., Le vie del Corallo. Terzo Itinerario. Il corallo di Samarcanda. L’ornamento dell’Asia Islamica dalla Turchia all’Uzbekistan, a cura della Banca di Credito Popolare di Torre del Greco, ed. Electa Napoli, 2000, pp. 15-16.

try googling "le vie del corallo"

You would have thought that they colud have chosen something a bit less hideous to illustrate the death of corallo nobile (noble coral)!

Well, not really, again from Italy I would imagine, a brief stop in Muscat on the way to Bombay or Calcutta where the real market lay.

The necklace was restrung in Yemen, I think after a Moroccan model. All components are original.

oops, first pic is wrong!

An old Spanish or Italian "manufica" amulet. The gold is 22K, one the rings holds a bsra pearl, the other one a diamant. The pendant is 55 mm., suspension loop included.

old Spanish, southern Italian, same same

Joking apart it's an amazing pendant. The necklace looks nice too. Do you have a shot of it?

It was an insulting gesture for the Romans, representing the female genitalia. Never could quite work the details of that! Just like "le corna" are an insulting gesture now. The meaning is that the person gestured at is a cuckold and has cuckold's horns. The same gesture is used but pointing down to ward off bad luck and presumably this is related to the coral "corna" as an amulet to ward of bad luck

she could never wear it. What's your position on this one? I don't think it matters. I just love coral. Is the necklace original to the pendant and do you have any idea about dating?

Thanks Brian - Your coral essay is great!

You lurk well - and write even better.........

One has to wonder how many lurkers are out there who could contribute fascinating content?

Bob, thank you for all this information. Happy bit of synchronicity for me - I'm beginning to collect Himalayan coral (you know, the stuff some online traders say is 'mined in the Himalayan regions,' and I really appreciate being shown so plainly the differences between the various types, particularly the identifying characteristics of Japanese coral. I just bought a nice string of Tibetan coral from Rita Okrent's collection - I'd post some photos, but my camera has just come to the end of its existence. Thanks to you I've identified it as mostly Sciacca with some Mediterranean beads as well and even a couple of Japanese beads for good measure. Thanks again!

Cheers,

Pip

as I have been, reading this post! Please stay with us and share your vast knowledge! I love Coral but, all of my Coral comes from Mauritania! My interst in Coral increased when, I attended a large convention where many Nigerians were present. The wealthiest Nigerians wore ropes of Coral necklaces! I spent alot of my time just following them around drooling over their beads! Many of them were so happy that I appreciated their beloved beads that they would take them off, put them on me so, I could be photographed with sumptious Coral necklaces!!!

Thank you, Brian, and welcome back to posting on BCN. I recall that you posted photos of some wonderful Yemeni silver pieces a couple of years back.

What about this coral? These necklaces are seen frequently in Jerusalem shops that sell old Middle Eastern silver.

Thanks,
Paula

I recognise the type of coral and the style of the necklace from similar things I've see in the Sinai, though never with this much coral. The metal beads are also similar to types that you find in Yemen and Saudi Arabia and are probably generically middle eastern. The "african amber" is also generic to M.E. jewellery. The necklace looks as though it has been restrung but the coral is clearly real and probably Sciacca by the looks of it. It's impossible to say wher it came from originally but it certainally looks to be the right colour and shape.

Here are a couple of examples from my recent trip.
One was sold to me as Chleuh Coral...I guess because it it used widely in the Chleuh Berber jewellery (Tarroudant Tiznit)Anti Atlas region, and is perhaps recycled from these pieces.

The paler was sold to me as Nigerian ??

Warm wishes
S

Pic of paler coral

some of the beads seem to have the white patches that you see on Japanese coral. Also the beads look as if they belong together as they are all similar in size shape and colour. There is no way of knowing for sure but perhaps.... Japan-Torre del Greco-Nigeria-Morocco-UK?

Its only speculation on my part but this coral seems completely unworked other than cleaning and breaking up the branches. Also, if the edges of the breaks are sharp it may very well never have been worn. If this were the case then this coral may be the product of recent fishing off the coast of Morocco. I saw some more or less complete branches of local coral (locally fished but not locally worked, at the stage when I saw it)in Morocco a few years ago, in the hands of the same guy who said that he owed his comfortable economic position in part to Yemeni coral.

Thank for this interesting insight, I am intrigued. Would you be happy to take a look at a piece to see what you think if I send it to you.
I bought these from a guy in the Tiznit area. He dug them out of a box at the bottom of a pile of boxes, wrapped in 15 year old newspaper. So I would be keen to know if the attention to detail in the story telling was so well prepared! I wasn't aware that coral was still gathered in the area. If this is the case, I need to rethink my stance when purchasing.

Thanks for considering this . I am appreciative of your generosity in Sharing your knowledge.

Warm wishes
Sarah

it's only an opinion and anyway has no bearing on the value or attractiveness of the coral or, in fact, on the veracity of the vendor's story. He may have meant that it is the kind of coral that is typically used in that kind of jewellery. Also, 15 years ago would still be recent in coral terms.
Like I say, it's only an opinion.

And very welcome too. I can see your words are well considered, and also from a wealth of knowledge. I thank you.
I shall get some more pics done tomorrow....I seem to be little hungover today!!
Warm wishes
Sarah

The most useful gift I was given last year, Always on my desk and used every day!
There was almost a riot when my son took it to do his homework, and I could nt find it for some pics!!

I don't know what I will do if it wears out, you should sell them on your site!

Thanks
Sarah !