First use of shellac ?

[Andy Dingley]

Anyone know when shellac began in Europe (preferably with good refs) ?

There's a thread kicked off in rec.org.sca about it.

Thanks

[L. A. Powell]

The following was copied from

"HISTORYMost people have no idea of what shellac is or where it comes from. Shellac is a natural, organic resin that comes from an insect, Laccifera lacca, that is about the size of an apple seed. This bug alights on certain trees indigenous to India and Thailand and during its reproductive cycle feeds on the sap that it sucks from the twigs of these trees. The bug secretes an amber colored resinous substance that is called "lac", a word that comes from the Sanskrit "lakh" which means one-hundred thousand. The resin forms a cocoon around the insect which serves to incubate the eggs she lays. This cocoon is the raw material for shellac and is called "sticklac", because it contains resin, parts of the twig and bug remains. The sticklac is washed and then refined either chemically or by hand, to produce the raw material available for sale to commerce.

The original cultivation of shellac was not for the resin, but rather, for the dye that gives the resin its characteristic color. The use of lac dye can be traced back to 250 AD when it was mentioned by Claudius Aelianus, a Roman writer in a volume on natural history. The lac dye was removed by the initial washing of the shellac resin in large kettles, which is also the first step in preparing the resin. This dye remained a valuable commodity until the mid-1800's, when Perkins, an English chemist, synthesized the first chemical 'aniline' dyes which killed the natural dye industry. Fortunately the use of the resin had been firmly established, so the loss of the use of the dye had little impact on shellac trade. The first use of shellac as a protective coating appears as early as 1590 in a work by an English writer who was sent to India to observe the country and its people."

[Rob Stokes]

I s'pose if I said "a long time ago" I'd probably get my ass kicked huh?

Rob

[Silvan]

Depends on how big you are. If you're 6'11" and 380 pounds, probably not.

[Swingman]

Did you see that BIG wrestler bitch slap ABC's John Stossel to the ground twice the other day? Why the hell he got up the first time, is the question. I thought the boy had more sense.

[Wally Goffeney]

It predates Europe by a millenium or two. See:

Wally Goffeney