Hello Silver,

I wish your photos were somewhat larger, so details could be seen more clearly.

In recent years, a LOT of coral has been characterized as "angelskin," where I would disagree with that designation. Usually this is white coral with pink spots or streaks. Actual angelskin coral is pink—sometimes with darker pink spots or streaks. Another closely-related coral comes from around the Hawaiian Islands, that is usually a more-vibrant pink with considerable variegation. Whether this is "angelskin" is a matter of opinion, I guess.

Added to the above, there are imitations that are made to resemble coral—such as dyed bone and other materials. It may take a close detailed photo to differentiate.

Think of coral (essentially gem quality coral from the Mediterranean or South China Sea) as being the "skeleton" of a marine animal. Its composition is very close to mollusk shell—being calcium carbonate. So, although it is organic, it is also essentially an organically-formed mineral. Coral will resist many normal treatments that survive whatever is harmless to calcium carbonates. However, it is attacked by some acids, such as hydrochloric acid.

It is safe to get coral wet—since it is an ocean product. It is also safe to wash coral beads in warm soapy water, and use an old toothbrush to gently release old dirt.

Nevertheless, since you are dealing with an old intact necklace, be aware that it is possible the cords (that you say may be silk) may be compromised—and would possibly break during washing. Old necklaces, strung on silk or organic fibers, should be restrung every five to ten years, if they are worn often.

This is what keeps we bead-stringers in business (!).

Good luck. Jamey

I have these three examples of pink and pink & white coral. The coral beads on the left were purchased in Hawaii about 30 years ago, and I think it is the "more vibrant pink" coral that Jamey mentions. Very inexpensive at the time, maybe $9 for the necklace.

The small branch pieces in the center were sold to me very recently as angel skin coral. I'm not an expert so I don't know if this is accurate.

The cross is probably at least 50-60 years old and I purchased it about 5 years ago. It was sold to me as angel skin coral as well. It is a signed Native American piece. The pink color does not match the pink on the Hawaii necklace at all. The color rendition did not come out well - this coral is much more of a peach color than it shows (on my monitor at least).

As I said I'm not an expert, but recently I was looking high and low for some angel skin coral beads, and I did not find any of the size and shape of your graduated rounds necklace. I found only small beads & pieces and cabs. Note added: I was looking for inexpensive beads - there are a lot offered in the thousand-dollar range.

Hi Rosanna,

You are fortunate to have acquired Hawaiian pink coral at such a low price. In recent years it has become very pricy. Because the Pacific coral that is pink is a different animal than the Mediterranean coral that provides angelskin, it is difficult to compare one to the other—except to say both are pink. I will show my angelskin coral, that I bought in the 1970s when I can either find an image or shoot my necklace. (I'm reasonably sure I showed this in the Coral Lecture I presented some two years ago for YoneSF.)

Your central coral group appears to be the white-coral-with-pink-spots that is routinely passed-off as "angelskin" coral in recent years.

The cross (a very nice piece by the way), seems to have what I would call "salmon" coral. This has a flushed pink color, that is somewhat saturated, but not bright. You say it's peachy. OK, I know that color in corals too. But if the photo is not accurate for color, it's hard to identify specifically.

Jamey

they are "real" beads, but this colouring/texture could also easily be carved pink cameo shell- (sorry but there wasn't enough space to include examples in the photos in my recent book: "Beads -a History and Collector's Guide".)
All shell material has a distinctive texture viewed under magnification, which somewhat differs from Coral.

i found there is an image in my book on p. 53, but this one may be easier to see detail-
1 necklace and 2 bracelets, where the carved beads have small real red coral beads between as spacers-

The beads in the foreground are coral I believe. They are quite hard with pink spots and evidence of branching.
The beads in the background are carved from a very thick shell. They seem a bit softer, more matte with sweet pink and white layers.
Hope it all helps.

Hi there,
I'm wrong more often than I'm right - but this has been my working theory:
The top 4 rows of beads pictured here are from shells of some sort.
The bottom 5 are some sort of coral.
Beadman, perhaps you can confirm that the deep pink beads are angel skin coral or some other material?
The bottom 4 (bottom 3 in 2nd photo) seem to be a very similar white coral-like material with pink bits. They may well be shell - though the beads that are flushed a little pinker over all have striations in them that are similar to what we see in redder corals. this fine detail has proved impossible for me to photograph so far, unfortunately.
I hope that the pictures help provide a sense of the materials. It is always way more fun to have them in hand.
Cheers.
Linda

Which is: what are you looking at that indicates shell as opposed to coral?

under magnification the beads of shell material tend to have layers rather than grain -

Really interesting to see these additional images and the explanation of different structures-thank you!

i must add that the beads are not so orange as this image- more raspberry than strawberry in reality-

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I did not realise that cameo shell was used to make beads too. And the cleaning tip is obvious now that you mention it, Jamey, given where coral and shell comes from! I've tried to take some close-up photos to show the markings, although they now don't do the colour justice!

Since one can see repeating crescent shapes in different beads, I would be inclined to guess these may be pink mollusk shell—as from the pink conch.

If you view these with an enlarging hand-lens, you should be able to spot the structures that are typical of mollusk shell. In contrast, coral may have subtle longitudinal lines and possibly roundish polyp scars. I recognize mollusk shell when I see it, but I could not describe what I see in a way that would be helpful. In spite of a valiant search, I did not find a close shot of this on the Net. Something for me to do when I can.... Jamey

Thank you very much!

Here is a screenshot from a dialogue from 2011, where a reply included a photo of typical cameo shell beads—that I have correctly identified. JDA.

Here's a photo I harvested from an online offering, a few years ago. The beads shown are identified as "coral." This is a very common mistake—even though cameo shell does not really look like coral. Interestingly, with these beads you can see the darker redder ridges that are the external portions of the mollusk shell. Many cameo shell beads retain some of this feature, even if it's only faint reddish stripes in the surface. These particular cylindrical beads are from Nigeria, where this shape is preferred for actual coral beads as well. The cameo shell and coral beads for Nigeria were probably all made at Naples/Torre Del Greco. JDA.