Re: Ceramic "fake" chevron question.
Re: Ceramic "fake" chevron question. -- Dog Bone Crazy Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: floorkasp Mail author
10/19/2014, 07:06:44

As far is I know, they are Prosser beads, made by the French Bapterosses company in Briare, probably between 1900 and 1940. If you look at the ends, you will probably notice that one end is quite rough compared to the other. Not rough like unglazed ceramic, but rough because the Prosser bead was fired on the bottom in a kiln. The composition of the base material for Prosser varied between period and bead types. This ones seems to be closer to ceramic than some other Prosser beads.

I have talked to the Picards about these a few times. The exact shape of these beads, in white and in blue, shows up on Bapterosses sample cards, but without the chevron decoration.
The Bapterosses have made a range of attempts of making their own chevron style beads, some more successful than others. Some are made like a puzzle of different pieces together, some by painting.

The specific style of this fake chevron bead does not show up in the collection of the Briare museum, or on any of the sample cards. This makes it almost impossible to know if they have been decorated by the Bapterosses factory, as they did with some other fake chevrons, or if they were decorated elsewhere. The coating does not really stand up to wear. It's color and style does show similarity to the other Prosser fakes by the Bapterosses. Almost like the red was made with a simple marker....

Below is a picture of my versions of these beads, worn a lot more. Second picture shows all Bapterosses beads, found by a local woman in their dumpsite. There is a painted chevron, and a white plain bead with the 'cuts' along the side to color it as a chevron too. That would suggest that this decoration was done after firing, which may explain why the color tends to wear off. Also, you can see the white and blue tubular beads that seem to be linked to the fake chevrons you showed. Most, if not all, of the beads in this picture appear to be prototypes that have not made it to the market in large quantities.

Perhaps if others would show their fake chevrons of this type too, with details of the holes and their size, we could solve this puzzle with a bit more proof.

IMG_3549.jpg (33.5 KB)  1_DSC00059.jpg (46.5 KB)  


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