Antique & Vintage Jewelry ~ What Is It Made Of? Glass, Plastic & Things Like Hair Pipe Beads?
As it is with the fascination for all things that are old, jewelry, especially if made of glass beads, or organic materials, is something that can be hundreds, and even thousands of years old.
Often jewelry items are the most likely to be saved, and passed down, primarily because it is easy to transport, and store jewelry and beads. These items can be kept in families for centuries, until someone dies, and the grandchildren have no interest in it. Then it gets sold, and picked up by those who do have an interest in it.
Often when it gets sold, it is mixed in with a range of other costume jewelry, and there is no time to sort it when organizing estate sales. Also, there is a great deal of research involved to delve into it all. You have to have the interest, or it would be like me collecting nuts and bolts, of which I certainly have no interest in.
Whatever the reasons for its widespread travel and age, jewelry provides a rich insight into the adornment used in different cultures since the beginning of time. The many types of trade beads made their way around the world, since those trade routes were established, and are still circulating today.
When going though a large collection, the top two categories, are differentiating between what is organic, and what is man-made.
Man made jewelry has sub categories of glass and plastics. Glass can be as valuable, or even more valuable than many gemstones.
Under the glass category, there is much to be learned. Famous glass and bead makers have their origins in Italy, Venice, Czechoslovakia, England, Austria, Germany, France, and Africa. In Egypt they date back to 1365 BC and are considered to be the oldest, or the first, to start using the various glass making techniques.
Much of the glass making history is shrouded in secrecy. The techniques and trade secrets among glass makers were carefully guarded, and passed down from one generation to another. Anyone who left the industry, or threatened to share the secrets would be hunted down and killed.
In addition, there is significant history stemming from the Soviet held countries, where the secrets of the techniques were never made public.
As far as antiquity is concerned, Lebanon also contributed to glass making. Although most of us think of antiquity as coming strictly from Venice, Venice is known as the “mother of modern beads”, which goes back to 1224 AD! We normally don’t think of 1200 AD as being modern. It helps to put into perspective just how ancient some of the glass beads are.
The reason the glass factories in Venice were moved to the island of Murano is because they feared that if there was a fire caused by the furnaces used to make the molten glass, it could burn the entire city of Venice down.
For around two hundred years the primary technique was called winding, where a gob of molten glass was wound around an iron rod to create the shape. Since glass is not naturally coloured, they would have to add the other elements to give it colour. Cobalt created the blue beads, copper made them green, tin made them white, and gold made them red.
Winding was not the only technique used. They also made beads out of blown glass, where they would create the shape by blowing through a glass rod. Another method was to press the glass, leaving ridges in the shape.
All of this type of glass making was before the 1400’s. When global trade began, through the shipping channels, Venetian glass beads were taken along and used for trade. It opened new doors for the industry. So beads got a trans-world status, and before long the slower methods of winding glass beads could not keep up with demand.
When demand increased they began the art of drawing beads, which involved the use of a long rod. The molten glass was formed around the rod, then cut into lengths, and then beads. This too, is quite the process, involving many chemicals and steps. Interestingly, they polished them by tumbling them in bran.
From the art of drawing beads, as demand increased, other countries got involved in the industry by the 1600’s, to include Czech, Holland, France, England and Sweden. In almost all cases, the techniques used were drawn from the Venetian guilds.
Bohemia soon became a centre for production, because they had the resources needed to mass produce this type of glass. They had plenty of quartz, which is used as the silica base for glass, labourers who were willing to work the hot furnaces, and wood to fire the furnaces. Potash is also used in glass making, and when used as a byproduct of wood burning, it did not have to be mined. Apparently by the late 1800’s Bohemia was making more glass than the Venetian guilds.
Also, apparently the American Indians preferred the Bohemian glass beads, so they became more valuable for trade.
Antique glass beads fall into categories of camphor glass, vauxhall glass, Murano glass, Bristol glass, French jet, opaline glass, depression glass, and uranium glass. Then there is all the hand painting and decorating to consider such as in wedding cake beads, which is a sub-category of Murano glass beads.
When it comes to plastics, there is bakelite, celluloid, lucite, catalin, galalith, and various other types of resin. In the 1920’s Chanel brought galalith plastic to the level of chic, by posting ads showing the little black dress accessorized with galalith plastic costume jewelry.
In addition Jakob Bengel incorporated galalith plastics into his art deco machine art designs. Bakelite also gained in popularity for costume jewelry, and was carved, colourful, and often used in whimsical pieces.
Like glass, not all plastic is created equal, and some of the vintage and antique plastics are now quite valuable. The days of considering all plastic jewelry to be junk, are long gone.
That brings us to the organic materials, which has so much to learn about, I can only scratch the surface. There is the whole range of coloured gemstones, which is one my my main areas of interest.
Shell, bone, and horn has been used since antiquity, even before the glass makers got started. Coral, ivory, amber, pearls and wood have also been used for ages, to include petrified wood and fossils.
In addition, many types of nuts and seeds were used in jewelry making throughout the ages. And in some cases, teeth of large animals have been used, as well as antlers. People are most certainly creative, and always have been.
Therefore once you define something as being organic, the next step is, but what is it? The difference between ivory and bone can be differentiated because bone has a blood supply, therefore you can see tiny dark dots on bone that are not visible on ivory.
One of the items that had me stymied is a necklace made of hair pipe beads. These can be made of many different organic materials, and were most often used by the Aboriginals. Many of them are made of buffalo bone. I should have guessed the necklace in the link below was of Aboriginal origin because they often use red and black in combination.
I knew the necklace was not porcupine quills because I grew up on a farm in Alberta, and saw a fair number of porcupine quills – mostly in the dog’s nose!
I knew some of the beads were bone, and have since looked up the other hair pipe necklaces online, and see that many of them are in the same colour range. Bone can be dyed through various techniques.
This antique necklace has now been defined!
Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2023). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.