Last week I blogged all about my memorable couple of afternoons with the wonderful Jan E and posted photos of the beautiful and much appreciated gifts she brought for me. I asked if anyone knew about the tiles on that fabulous bracelet and dear “Bony Tony” was kind enough to send me a very thorough and complete description and explanation. Here it is (scroll down past the photos) and much thanks to Tony who possesses a truly amazing wealth of information and knowledge!

Ann, the tiles are an early form of catalin that was incompletely cured, which set up internal stresses, showing as fractures emanating from sharp corners on the carving. Once seen as a fault, these are now a desirable feature for some collectors, I believe the name for them is ‘applejuice’. Although they appear to be fragile, I have not seen a broken one yet, and I have a few of these sets.
These tiles were originally translucent white and jade green – the intention being to imitate jade & jadeite – but the surface discolouration inherent in these phenol formaldehyde tiles has turned them amber & khaki over time. This discolouration happens quite fast, a couple of years is all it takes.
Tony.