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BAKELITE BANGLES

Leo Beakeland (1863 -1944), a Belgian who had moved to America, was the inventor of Bakelite. Made by the condensation of phenol and formaldehyde in the presence of a catalyst, it was used for everything from tools and telephones at first and jewelry to follow. "Bakelite" is frequently used as a generic name for all phenol formaldehyde, including Catalin and Marblette, which came later and in a wider range of colors. Bakelite is a thermoset plastic, meaning that once cast or molded and hardened, it will not melt, burn or dissolve. It can only be worked by carving, sawing, tumbling, painting and gluing. One type of bakelite is called "Prystal", often described as a dichroic (color changing) bakelite, and also as a fully transparent bakelite.

Bakelite jewelry was at it's zenith from the late 1920s till the start of WWII in 1942, and even afterwards designers like Diane Von Furstenberg and Hattie Carnegie, among others, leant their names to this wonderful jewelry. The lack of money and need for inexpensive fun during the Depression era of the 1930s gave the whimsical, colorful and cheerful look of bakelite jewelry the perfect market. The sophisticated Deco and machine age look of some of the pieces made them fashion-forward.

Today, not only the vintage bakelite jewelry is collected, but also the work of contemporary Bakelite artisans who are fashioning their jewelry using old stock and bakelite pieces and parts. Colorful Bakelite is such fun to wear, and mixing and matching stacks of bangles is just part of the personalization possibilities of having your own collection.

We have a wonderful selection on our web site and enjoy both buying and selling it. See our bakelite feature in Jewel Chat.

TO BUY Bakelite jewelry, see our selection HERE.

TO BUY interesting vintage jewelry See...

Morning Glory Antiques and Jewelry click HERE.

And stay tuned as we share more marvelous jewelry for sale in the coming weeks!

NEW ADDITIONS
Morning Glory adds recent acquisitions often and you can always see them here:

http://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/