Test your Knowledge of Vintage Plastic Jewelry

Test your Knowledge of Vintage Plastic Jewelry by Deborah Lyons

True or False?

___1. Sticking a hot pin into a piece of plastic jewelry is a good way to test it.

___2. Black bakelite cannnot be tested.

___3. Lucite is always clear or transparent.

___4. Bakelite can be clear or transparent as well as opaque.

___5. Bakelite cannot be bent.

___6. Black Bakelite jewelry was always intended to be worn while in mourning.

___7. Celluloid floral patterned jewelry was usually molded, not carved.

___8. American Bakelite jewelry was usually signed.

___9. A piece marked Japan or India is likely to be Bakelite.

___10.Galalith, otherwise known as "French Bakelite," is rare.

Answers:

1. F. Sticking a hot pin into a piece of plastic is dangerous to
the tester and can ruin a good piece of vintage plastic. Test
safely by using hot water (burnt smell), simichrome or 409 (turns
yellow).

2. F. Most black Bakelite does respond to the above tests, but some does not.

3. F. Lucite can be transparent (clear), translucent, or opaque.

4. T. Bakelite, like lucite, is found in transparent, translucent, or opaque colors.

5. T. Bakelite is not flexible. If a piece is bent it is probably celluloid.

6. F. Mourning jewelry was a Victorian phenomenon, and was mostly out
of fashion by the heyday of Bakelite. Black was simply
fashionable, as it is today.

7. T. Lightweight celluloid bangles with floral patterns in relief are nearly always molded, not carved.

8. F. Hardly any American Bakelite jewelry was signed, especially
bangles. Sometimes there is a signature on the metal findings of
a pin or earrings. This in no way affects the value -- the rarest
pieces are almost never signed.

9. F. Bakelite jewelry does not seem to have been made in Japan or
India, and it rarely carries the name of any country of origin.
Sometimes the metal findings are marked USA or with the name of a
European country. Jewelry marked W. Germany is post-WW II and
generally too late to be Bakelite.

10. T. Galalith, misleadingly called "French Bakelite," is very
ungemon. Most pieces listed as "French Bakelite" are actually
newly made from lucite or other modern plastics.

Scoring

8-10 A real maven!

7-5 A budding enthusiast!

4-2 Getting started -- enjoy!

1-0 Welgee to the world of vintage plastics!

For more information and lots of great pictures, see Plastic Bangles by Lyn Tortoriello and Deborah Lyons (Schiffer Books, 2005).