Featured Bogwood Necklace and Hand Blown Beads

I'm just posting this in case anyone else comes across some Bogwood and doesn't know what they are looking at.

I was going through my SA jewerly the other day, picked this up and just about tossed it into the junk jewelry box, but something about the glass beads caught my eye. You can see how they are elongated on each end; I suppose from being handblown.

I started researching the black beads and found they were bogwood.

I don't find the necklace attractive, but interesting to think of the history behind who made it and who may have worn it.

Some bogwood necklaces go for a decent price, but I think this one is destined to be sold for parts, if even that.

 

Curious item. Is it so long it does not need a clasp? The beads themselves may be of interest to bead collectors, as well as to artisans.

I'm always trying to train my eye to identify, as much as possible, black jewellery materials with only photos to go by, so thanks for putting this up & identifying it.

 

Bog oak, here. The other black beads I like are lava.

 

It is not exceedingly long, but long enough to fit over your head without need of a clasp (it's about 26").

It is strung on what looks like either discolored household string or a thin jute. I will probably sell the beads for an artisan to use, but I don't think either type of bead has all that much value given the simpleness of each of them.

 

Except that it alternates 2 kinds of beads, this looks a lot like the way beads are sold when not being sold individually. Both kinds of bead are so roughly made, hard to imagine them being made in an industrialized place/time. Do all of the black beads have a spot on the side that is anywhere from a dimple to a small hole, as do many in the photos? Am wondering if they are actually something like a nut/seed? Hard to really assess them without being able to touch & weigh in the hand.

 

Are you familiar with bogwood? It develops after a piece of wood (pine, yew or oak) has laid in a bog/marsh for many years, so it's a natural substance, not something manmade. It was popular for jewelry in the mid 1800's, I believe...maybe a bit later than that.

Because these beads are black, the original source would have been oak. Pine & yew turn different colors after stewing in the quagmire of a bog for a period of time.

The beads feel just like wood - fairly lightweight, not cold to the touch like many other materials used in that era. It's also has a matte finish like you would expect to see in untreated wood. Looking at them under a loupe I can see the grain that you would see on a tree.

I came to the conclusion that they were likely bogwood through process of elimination mainly (at least at first until I started looking at other bogwood and seeing the similarities). They don't fit the description of other materials of the day such as jet or gutta percha.

Given the fact that it develops only under certain conditions and over a lengthy period of time, it's not the most abundant resource for jewelry making. There is definitely a market for bogwood jewelry and beads. But these beads are quite bland looking to me, so I don't know how much they might fetch. Then again, someone took the time to string them with handblown glass beads, so maybe it was quite special to them at the time.

Sorry that was so long. I hope I answered your question, as I wasn't 100% sure what you were asking.

BTW, here is a site I used when trying to figure out what it was....

http://jewelrynerd.org/blog/what-ar...-vulcanite-jewelry-and-how-do-i-identify-them

 

Oh, just realized what you were getting at... I wasn't implying that they were originally sold as individual beads for a jewelry maker. I just was thinking that the only way the necklace would be saleable would be to separate the glass beads from the wood beads on the necklace and sell them to someone to make a new creation.

It has been a long, awful day. I'd better go to bed before I write another novel.

 

Tomorrow will be better !!!

 

This is a bog oak Jubilee brooch I sold last year. It was darker to the eye than to the camera when contrasted with the black background, very light in weight. It was only rough where it was left rough. The beads are odd: all basically the same shape, but not all the same size; roughly finished, yet cleanly drilled. I don't understand why so many of them, maybe all of them, have a place on the side that looks a bit like a false start at drilling. In most places the surface looks pocked, like black olives that have had a bad case of acne. Other than the drill holes & maybe some smoothing/flattening around the mouths of the holes, these do not look to me as though they were machined in any way, not turned on a lathe. Maybe someone else will apply their eyes & tell us what they see.

 

It is clear to me that you are more knowledgeable on the subject than I...I've only learned from what little I've read, so I'd defer to your opinion that they are likely not bogwood.

I hope someone else joins in with an opinion. The one thing I am fairly sure about is that I don't think they are a seed. Though I see what you are saying about the pitting, they really feel like wood in hand. Then again, I don't know every single seed in the world, so I'm willing to be proven wrong.

 

Wonder whether Any Jewelry or Judy has taken a look. Between them they seem to have quite a bit of knowledge on jewellery from Africa & Asia. My feeling is that the necklace originates in one of those places.

 

@Any Jewelry or @judy, would either of you have an opinion to offer? Thanks!

 

I think Bronwen meant the other Judy, Obb. She says bog oak.

Sorry, I can't add anything sensible to what has already been said.
SA jewellery, South African? Or am I in the wrong continent?
My area of 'expertise', is North African, Asian (including Middle East), some European, some NA, some Latin American, some Maori.
I know very little of Sub-Saharan African jewellery, and the further south it goes, the less I know.

 

Not sure this adds anything to this conversation but might be useful some other time. Shows beads made from materials with a botanical origin:

http://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/ww0901.htm#tianina

 

Great link for reference. Thanks Bronwen.

 

Thanks Any Jewelry.

Maybe I'll just hang onto it and revisit at a later date. I'm more curious than ever as to what this may be or where it's from.