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Article: Bakelite: just right: we asked one longtime Antiques Roadshow appraiser to tell us why Bakelite is busting out all over--and how to protect yourself from "fakelite.".(JEWELRY)
- Article from:
- Antiques Roadshow Insider
- Article date:
- August 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Belvoir Media Group, LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In our search for body "adornment," nothing has been so curiously accepted or so eagerly desired as vintage pieces made from a thermoset plastic known as Bakelite.
Just a plastic? No! Bakelite has superseded its own "lowly" moniker and has become to many vintage jewelry collectors the object of a lifelong search.
Developed in the late 1920s for industrial uses, Bakelite became popular among manufacturers of costume jewelry and accessories from 1930 to the late 1950s. In surviving the Depression years and living through World War II, Bakelite attracted a devoted audience of jewelry lovers who welcomed its whimsy and color.
Because Bakelite was ...