One strand of brick red vintage Vinyl Heishi from the African trade.
32-inch Strand. It looks like there are some black slices mixed in, but I think it's just a darker red/brown -- or dirt. These beads can be gently washed in a back of warm soapy water and allowed to dry in the sun. Beware, in some cases you might be shocked at how bright the beads look after washing.
I used Vinyl in the title, because that has become the common name for these beads, but there is no truth whatsoever in widely published nonsense they were made of recycled phonograph records.
They are labeled as “Vulcanic” on the original Bohemian bead factory sample cards in the Jablonec Museum. And just to be sure that no future misnomers get started here, they have nothing to do with volcanoes either
They are an early form of plastic designed to imitate and/or expand on the types of heishe (clam, snail, ostrich egg and coconut shell) already popular in Africa.
The Bohemian bead producers were experts at this early "market research", sending intrepid agents to all parts of the continent to discover what beads people were using, and what they might like to see reproduced in colorful glass or other materials.
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