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One of the features offered by Morning Glory is our free JEWEL CHAT reference site. Need to check a maker's mark? Look up jewelry patents and see design art work? It's all there! This is just some of the information offered:

REFERENCE INFORMATION
Jewelry Marks & Dates
Jewelry References
Jewelry Values, what it's worth and how to sell it
Determining Jewelry Quality
Jewelry Definitions
Jewelry Findings

Leo Beakeland (1863 -1944), a Belgian who 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 to jewelry and accessories. "Bakelite" is frequently used as a generic name for all phenol formaldehyde, including Catalin and Marblette, which came later and in a much wider range of colors. Bakelite is a thermoset plastic, meaning that once cast or molded and hardened, it will not melt or dissolve. It can only be worked by carving, sawing, tumbling, painting and gluing. One type of bakelite is called "Prystal", a completely transparent colored bakelite often described as a dichroic (color changing) bakelite because it has more than one color.

COLORFUL bakelite jewelry was at it's zenith from the late 1920s until the start of WWII in 1942, and was used even afterwards by such companies as Diane Von Furstenberg, Miriam Haskell and Hattie Carnegie, among others. The need for inexpensive fun during the Depression era of the 1930s gave the whimsical, colorful and cheerful look of bakelite jewelry the perfect market.

Today not only is vintage bakelite jewelry collected, but also the work of contemporary Bakelite artisans fashioning jewelry using old bakelite stock, pieces and parts. Sadly, fakes are also being made, as they are in many categories, so buy from a reputable dealer who really knows what they are selling.

Bakelite is such fun to wear, and the mixing and matching stacks of bangles is just one way to personalize your own collection. We have a wonderful selection of hundreds of pieces on our web site and enjoy buying, wearing and selling it.

BAKELITE JEWELRY for you to buy can be seen by clicking HERE.

Vintage Bakelite in our Jewel Chat gallery can be enjoyed HERE. Curl up in your favorite chair because there's lots to see there, five different pages of it!

To see what's new on Morning Glory on any day, please click HERE.

BAKELITE GALLERIES- WEARING BAKELITE

The sophisticated Deco and Machine Age styles of some of the bakelite bangles made them fashion-forward when they were made as well as now. It is a look many people can wear, and that lots of collectors enjoy. Displaying them in big bowls or glass front cabinets means they can be seen and enjoyed all day long.

One current trend is the fun of wearing both jewelry and clothing in your own unique way, making your own unexpected combinations and interesting looks, and bakelite fits right into this trend. For example, stacks of thinner bangles can be combined so that 3-5 at a time can be worn, enabling different carving and interesting color combinations. And it's also great to mix bakelite pieces in unusual ways, worn with Victorian black jet jewelry for instance, or large rhinestone pieces. I have one customer who uses her cell phone to document her combinations for future reference. What a fun way to have a gallery of your own!

Mixing the different styles of carving is fun too, and the light playing against the different layers can be so interesting. Bakelite comes in many colors and the ones that have mellowed over all the years are especially interesting to me.

To buy Bakelite vintage and Shultz jewelry please click HERE.

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

http://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/