whats this bead made of?

[GatorBoy]

I have found only one other bead from this site. Its the blue glass one. This one has me stumped on what its made of and weather or not it's pre-contact. I do have evidence of the use of asphaltum/tar at this site. Could it be tar?

 

[GatorBoy]

your right....... I guess I just wont know for sure yet.

 

[Tnmountains]

Could it be a soap stone? I have a drilled gorget it is a dark waxy brown but hard enough to survive?

 

[GatorBoy]

I wish I could tell anything for sure. I'd have to say probably not. I know this isn't real scientific but the sound it makes on my tooth is a "Tink" like glass. High pitch.

 

[natchitoches]

if it is asphaltum ,here is a test.
get a pin, and heat it up.
now i know you don;t want to damage it.
but you could go down thu the hole.
and into inside of the hole and into the inside side and see if it will melt into the side. if it dose it not glass.

 

[GatorBoy]

Dang.. why didn't I think of that? Thanks.

 

[natchitoches]

np anytime

 

[natchitoches]

well is it glass?

 

[GatorBoy]

Haha..
Sorry dude! Yeah. Its glass.

 

[Get-the-point]

Bout freakin time you found out what it is......Talk about a thread beater!!!!..............lmfao!!!......................GTP(Chris)

 

[GatorBoy]

Hahaha your f.in right.

 

[Get-the-point]

Dam you Floridians and your prize fishing.......Nice fish man!!! All I have are my streams and lakes and guess what....with the increase in migrant workers and foreigners who do not know how to catch and release these lakes and rivers are getting fished out. Now they have a bunch of lakes around me that will not allow you to keep your catch. They have no choice to do this until populations start flourishing again...........

 

[GatorBoy]

Ahhh..that's sad to hear.

 

[natchitoches]

great glad you found out what it is made of.

 

[GatorBoy]

Thanks.

 

[old digger]

European (British,French or Russian) dark brown trade bead. Late 1700s- 1850s.

 

[GatorBoy]

Its very black and looks exactly like the one called Luis and Clark. Also the Russian ones are octagonal and blue or green... at least that's what I've studied. I have blue. I could be wrong... where can I find info on dark brown?

 

[natchitoches]

here some info.
http://Click here: trade bead, fl. - Google Scholar

http://Click here: JSTOR: Search Results

 

[GatorBoy]

Ahrrr.. both links are bad. Not available.

 

[old digger]

It's been a while. Lost several of my older books in a fire 16 years ago, but I seem to remember a bead similar to yours that came from the English. (not absolute)!

 

[natchitoches]

trade bead, fl. - Google Scholar