During recent years, the Bakelite jewelry of the 1930s has become a trendy and popular fashion accessory and much-valued collectible. Emblematic of a unique culture that only could have blossomed between a depression and a world war, this cheeky costume jewelry is beautifully shown here in its amazing range, humor, high style, good-hearted silliness, streamlined chic, and daring inventiveness. Bakelite, the first thermosetting plastic, formed the basis for a Depression-era fashion trend that began, spread like wildfire, and died away, all within a few short years--between 1933 and 1941. Two generations later, there is an astounding resurgence of interest in Bakelite jewelry. Among fashion trendsetters, there is growing infatuation with these playful and very wearable baubles. Among serious collectors, there is fierce competition for the rare, quality pieces that were made in limited numbers under such evocative brand names as Marblette, Gemstone, Prystal, Agtine, and Catalin. Bakelite seems to be everywhere, and prices are rising. The authors have assembled for this book--from many sources--the greatest array ever seen of Bakelite jewelry. They have also appended a very useful guide to prices. ILLUSTRATIONS 150 full colour

Provides a light hearted, yet authoritative overview of this colorful subject. Loaded with examples.

Brimming over with over 150 full-page, luscious photographs of superb jewelry, this is a treasure chest of bakelite, celluliod and lucite. Several of today's leading bakelite collectors lent their finest pieces of this book. Layered, carved molded, translucent, painted and imbedded jewelry styles are displayed in profusion. The captions include the values guide. From common to exceedingly rare, this book presents excitement and the best plastic jewelry to be found.

Vintage carved Bakelite jewelry, from the great style era of the 1930s and 1940s, remains a highly sought-after category of collectible interest worldwide. From ever-popular bangles and hinged bracelets, to pins, dress clips, buckles, pendants, and earrings, these little works of art are endlessly satisfying. The great carved pieces are hard to find, valuable, and much coveted. An eye-popping array of over 1,000 vintage jewelry items in carved Bakelite is explored. Organized to highlight their many patterns and brilliant colors, these little gems of fashion are displayed in over 300 detailed color photographs. This jewel box of a book honors the art and painstaking craft of carving Bakelite into fun and interesting personal adornments. Admire it, collect it, and enjoy it!

All the questions about Bakelite answered in a colorful, richly illustrated book. Designed to inform as well as delight, this book shows how to rate quality-good, better, best-and explores the basics of Bakelite, from dealers' secrets to historical facts. All this, and a current price guide, will make this a favorite of collectors.

The Art Deco style of the early 1930s presents elements of design reduced to their minimal essence and applied to everyday items. Here Bakelite jewelry and boxes are studied as reflections of this style, with hundreds of items photographed in color and described with their current values. This book demonstrates how Art Deco style fit into the Depression era, providing color, simplicity, and economy.

Nearly 200 images of pins, necklaces, bracelets, and more document the efforts of patriotic Americans to support the war effort during the 1940s.

Over 750 stunning color photos illustrate Bakelite collectors' stories, experiences, and lovingly assembled collections in a book to delight every collector of this colorful jewelry. Fantastic jewelry arrays are showcased in luscious detail, in a design that intensifies their beauty. A price guide makes it a truly valuable book.

The design, technology and impact of bakelite, colour illus. of highly collectible pieces; advice on collecting, buying and caring for bakelite.

The changing relationships between science and industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, illustrated by the career of the “father of plastics.” The Belgian-born American chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur Leo Baekeland (1863–1944) is best known for his invention of the first synthetic plastic—his near-namesake Bakelite—which had applications ranging from electrical insulators to Art Deco jewelry. Toward the end of his career, Baekeland was called the “father of plastics”—given credit for the establishment of a sector to which many other researchers, inventors, and firms inside and outside the United States had also made significant contributions. In Beyond Bakelite, Joris Mercelis examines Baekeland's career, using it as a lens through which to view the changing relationships between science and industry on both sides of the Atlantic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He gives special attention to the intellectual property strategies and scientific entrepreneurship of the period, making clear their relevance to contemporary concerns. Mercelis describes the growth of what he terms the “science-industry nexus” and the developing interdependence of science and industry. After examining Baekeland's emergence as a pragmatic innovator and leader in scientific circles, Mercelis analyzes Baekeland's international and domestic IP strategies and his efforts to reform the US patent system; his dual roles as scientist and industrialist; the importance of theoretical knowledge to the science-industry nexus; and the American Bakelite companies' research and development practices, technically oriented sales approach, and remuneration schemes. Mercelis argues that the expansion and transformation of the science-industry nexus shaped the careers and legacies of Baekeland and many of his contemporaries.