In my recent blog post about vintage Japanese celluloid jewelry I spotlighted the chrysanthemum flower basket brooches produced in the 1940s. These lovely pieces were hand painted in many color variations and all were produced from one of two quite similar base molds. I have discovered that one of those two vintage flower basket designs…
Among all the plastics used in vintage jewelry, celluloid usually claims pride of place in the category of intricate detailing – and in particular, the pieces produced during the first half of the 20th century in Japan. Why and how did this come to be so? The actual process for creating celluloid provides part of…
Within the genre of vintage celluloid jewelry from the first half of the 20th century, there exists a group known to collectors as Featherlite, Featherweight and Bubbleite (often misspelled as Bubblelite, with two Ls rather than one). As their names suggest, when compared with other celluloid items of similar size and age they weigh considerably…
There’s a perplexing plethora of vintage plastic jewelry for sale that is described as being “celluloid”, “bakelite”, “lucite”, etc – but what exactly IS it? and does it really matter? Actually it does but not for the reasons you might think. Vintage jewelry made of (or with) plastic falls into one of six groups: celluloid,…
Let me confess at the outset that for much of my life I considered all jewelry made of plastic to be “cheap junk”. After all, it was the sort of thing that I bought at the local Woolworths’ all through childhood – not that I didn’t love my “pop-beads” (something we Baby Boomer gals grew…
The Chatsworth Lady 