Faturan
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Legende und Realität [1] Die "legendäre" Definition von Faturan (auch manchmal als Bernstein Faturan bezeichnet) lautet wie folgt: Eine Mischung aus natürlichem Bernstein, Kunstharzen und Weihrauch Die Technik, Bernstein und Kunstharz zu einem festen Material zu vereinen ist bis heute unbekannt. Diese Methode wurde von einem Araber namens Faturan im 19. Jahrhundert (einige sagen sogar es war im 17. Jahrhundert) erfunden. Das Material trägt seitdem seinen Namen. Tatsächlich aber wird der Begriff Faturan nicht ein einzigstes Mal in dem bekanntesten Nachschlagewerk für Perlen "The History of Beads From 30,000 BC To The Present", erwähnt. [2] Das zeigt ganz klar, dass es sich bei dem Wort Faturan um eine Legende handelt die irgendwann nach 1987, dem Datum an dem das Buch herauskam, erfunden wurde. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenoplast However the true story is that the material designated as FATURAN is a material that derives from BAKELITE which itself was developed in 1907-1909 by the Belgian chemist Dr. Leo Baekland. Bakelite is basically a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde synthetic resin. http://www.plastiquarian.com/index.php?id=2&subid=35 Faturan is therefore not more than 100 years old as it is existence is posterior to that of Bakelite. The first Bakelite arrived to the East Mediterranean - mostly Turkey - in the form of drawers and furniture knobs and handles around 1909/1911. This is the time when the first prayer bead strands - tesbih - made of what we know call Faturan started to appear on the market. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misbaha https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komboloi The bead carvers, mainly in Istanbul, were swift to understand that Bakelite was a material with a lot of potential: it could be easily and well carved, had a great appearance and clicking sound, could imitate and replace amber, was very solid and could sustain a lot of heat. So they started making their own Bakelite, mixing it with natural, vegetal or synthetic dyes, amber powder, all kind of fillers, additives, etc. Each master carver also had his own secret "recipe", sometimes heating or frying in various oils and liquids, making the material undergo various physical or chemical processes to obtain the most beautiful aspect. This is the material that we call GENUINE Faturan today. The original and GENUINE Faturan beads were mainly, red, orange or yellow in all shades. The last GENUINE Faturan beads were made in the 1940's mainly because of the 2nd World War when the supply of raw material became very rare. Normally the last GENUINE Faturan beads date to the late 1940's (or very early 1950's) when the supply of raw material that was still left from the pre War stocks was terminated. After the 2nd World War the production stopped due to the general severe restrictions that prevailed all over the world. The demand for GENUINE Faturan (often confused with amber) has always been great among prayer beads, "Tesbih" and "Komboloi" collectors. This demand has tremendously increased the last 10 years so that a great amount of faked Faturan has come into the market. By "Fake" is meant newly manufactured phenolic resins (of all kinds) purposely or ignorantly presented as GENUINE Faturan. The result of this situation is, that today there is a very big confusion in the usage of the word "FATURAN" as well as about it's true origin and real definition to the extent that practically any kind of phenolic resin (even newly produced) is called Faturan. In the bead trade, faturan is often thought to be a mixture of natural amber shavings with other materials, and is described as having been invented in the Middle East in the 18th or 19th century. The first Bakelite arrived mainly to Turkey was in the form of drawer and furniture knobs and handles around 1909/1911. This is the time when the first prayer bead strands made of what we now call faturan started to appear on the market. The bead carvers, mainly in Turkey, were swift to understand that Bakelite was a material that could be well carved, had a great appearance and could replace amber. Each master also had his secret "recipe,", even heating in various liquids and oils and making it undergo various physical or chemical processes to obtain the most beautiful aspect. The original and genuine Faturan beads were mainly red or yellow in all its shades. The last genuine faturan beads were made in 1940 mainly due to the Second World War when the supply of raw material became very scarce. Normally, the last genuine faturan beads date of the late 1940s when the supply of the raw material that was sill left from the prewar stocks was terminated. After the Second World War the production stopped mainly due to the general severe restrictions that prevailed all over the world. The demand for genuine faturan – often confused for amber - has always been great among prayer bead, tesbih and komboloi collectors. It has increased in the last ten years so much that it has attracted a great amount of "fake" faturan on the market. By "fake," collectors mean newly manufactured phenolic resin either purposefully or ignorantly presented as genuine faturan. The result of this low-quality impostor material is that, today, there exists a very big confusion in the use of the word Faturan as well as about its meaning to the extent that practically any kind of phenolic resin is called unjustly Faturan, even those which are produced nowadays. Genuine pre-1940 faturan - beads still intact, and in complete strands, made from one single type of material - are considered museum items and fetch extremely high prices by both institutional and individual auction bidders. http://www.raschig.net/p/faturan-bakelite.html