Featured Angel skin coral?

Im at a loss as to what material these beads are made out of. Definitely not wooden. They are 16 inches long, the largest bead is half an inch wide. They are mostly not really spherical, some have gouges in them that don’t look like accidental chips. I’ve only ever had the red branch coral, never any beads, but this feels like coral, doesn’t feel really cold like agate stone. Not sure about the slight banding in some beads either is this often occurring in coral?The clasp is cheap and rusting. Any thoughts anyone please? Thanks. Oh, there’s no white in the drill holes, and they are grubby overall, I wasn’t sure how to clean them.

 

@Bronwen will say for sure! I think it is made from strombus shell

It should be fine to just wash them in soapy luke warm water, rince and thoroughly wipe dry

 

Thanks Kyratango, the orange blob makes sense now, I think you have identified it. Shell hadn’t even crossed my mind as the big bead is quite thick but there must be areas in the shells which are used for the bigger beads. The quest to find the angel skin goes on.

 

I'm with kyra.

 

You're very welcome!
I'm sure you'll end finding an angel skin piece!

 

Just a little comment on coral, that does have striations, growth lines. Sometimes very obvious, sometimes not. I don't know if you can see it on this little pendant:

 

I don't see the lines. could you cut it in halves, please ?

 

Riiiiiiiiiight!

 

Shell, probably from a member of the Cassis (helmet) family, which is the principal shell used for shell cameos. For a tutorial in distinguishing angel skin coral from the cameo material it is most often confused with, Lobatus gigas (formerly known as Strombus gigas), the queen conch, see:

https://cameotimes.com/index.php/reference/materials-guide?showall=&start=1

Beads like yours are taken up around the middle of the page.

 

thank you for the link. a keeper.

 

Thank you, ma'am. The confusion is one of my pet peeves, but there seems little hope of ever eliminating it. I see it at all levels, from casual eBay sellers, who can't be blamed, up to exhibitors at high end antique jewellery shows who consider themselves experts, who should know better.

 

"Thank you, ma'am."

 

Thank you Bronwen, very interesting.

 

Thanks AJ, yes I can.

 

When it comes to computer screens, I have tunnel vision & frequently miss anything shown off to the side, especially to my left. Thank you, Sir. Love the video clip, a great way to make the correction.

I once got into an extended, rather technical exchange with someone in France who had a cameo listed on eBay. After a bit of back & forth, I put my name at the end of a reply. The next word I had from him started with, 'I hope you are not offended, but I thought you were a man.' Told him I wasn't offended, just an argumentative woman. His tone was noticeably less confrontational after that & he ended up sending me a cast of the piece in question. Maybe I should have been offended; the implication was that he did not think a woman could/would go toe to toe with him over the authenticity of the signature on the piece.

 

A bead in the 5th photo down has a nice little saw blade cut.

 

I wasn't offended at all, but amused. as I am often around here.
your experience with the French lad is still very typical for the French of 50plus. and may I say, what is more shocking to me - French women accept it for the most part.
I personally have the advantage of an upbringing by strong women that went their own ways.

 

I know you are one of the regulars, but I tend not to take notice of avatars that are gender symbols. What I think really happened is that my brain was half on autopilot & thought it was replying to Figtree, who often participates on my cameo thread. Fid/Fig... An extra thank you then, for taking an interest & giving the link a thumbs up.