Bakelite

The ancestor of plastics, a substance invented and patented in 1909 by Leo H. Baekeland. It had many uses, including the manufacture of costume jewellery. It was used from the 1920s until the early 1950s to make billiard balls, telephones, radios, kitchen tools, poker chips, buttons and, of course, costume jewellery. A resinous and dark material, it could be dyed almost any color, though it had the defect of becoming easily faded over time. It was also almost indestructible. Bakelite was able to imitate many other materials, including marble, ivory, amber, coral, and tortoiseshell, as well as various precious and semi-precious stones. It can be transparent, translucent or opaque. Over time it takes on a surface patina and tends to crack. In the U.S. there are already, of course, several books on the subject, as it has become a collector’s item, and not at cheap prices. These books include: Bakelite Bangles: Price and Identification Guide, Bakelite Pins, and Bakelite in the Kitchen. Pieces in particular colors are much sought-after. These include Butterscotch, a golden yellow with a touch of brown produced only during the 1930s; End-of-the-Day, a blend of three or more contrasting colors; and Star Dust, transparent with specks of gold, which disappeared at the end of the 1930s. The demand and prevailing prices are such that the vintage items are no longer enough in sufficient supply, and new pieces are manufactured with recycled Bakelite. There is also a fake Bakelite, known as Fakelite. It is important to be able to distinguish it from celluloid and lucite, which are similar materials but lighter and more delicate.