What makes Bakelite jewelry so desirable?

[CatWoman]

It brings good prices on Antiques Roadshow.

[Fenris]

1. From what period? The 20s? 30s?

Art deco pieces I know fetch a pretty penny.

[CatWoman]

2. from anywhere before the 50's

however, some later jewelry brings good prices too.

[Fenris]

4. The value of Bakelite jewelry is determined by rarity and design.

Increasingly a rare material to make jewerly out of once the cheaper Vulcanite was developed.

Here - some history:
http://www.deco-echoes.com/bakelite.html

[flamingyouth]

6. Helpful hint:

I love Bakelite. ;)

[bettyellen]

3. it was mostly made for a short time , i think 20- 40's and disappeared.

to be replaced by generic plastic.

[rhyfeddu]

5. I speak as a fan, not an antiques expert...

...but, my impression is that its 1) unique. That process isn't really used anymore (at all?) - ho-hum ubiquitous plastic replaced it. 2) Its admittedly relatively fragile, so its rarity value can only increase as the years pass 3) its so darn attractive. I think. 4)Its so evocative of that period of time, it has good "atmosphere"

My 2 cents...:think:

[CatWoman]

8. I remember the guys on Antiques Roadshow had a special test

to determine if a peice was Bakelite, but I forgot what it was.

Do you know?

[China_cat]

9. Run it under hot water

real Bakelite STINKS when heated.

[clover]

10. smells like burning fingernails (nt)

[rhyfeddu]

12. Yup

At least, I've heard something similiar - never wanted to chase myself out of the room enuf to TRY it :P

[AmandaRuth]

7. well made Bakelite

seems to have a beautiful depth and clarity to the color of the plastic. It can be very beautiful.

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. Partly because most of it is hand-carved, not molded.

And the fact that, well, it really hasn't been made in sixty years.

[jmowreader]

13. A little about Bakelite

Bakelite was introduced by a gentleman named Baekeland in 1902. It is a thermosetting phenolic resin, made by mixing carbolic acid (phenol) with formaldehyde. The hot water test referred to earlier will liberate formaldehyde gas, so if you dip a piece of real Bakelite in hot water, your room will smell like you've been dissecting frogs again.

The process is pretty simple but it requires equipment you probably do not have. You start by mixing carbolic acid with 37-percent formaldehyde in equal proportions. Pour this vicious mixture into a steam-jacketed pot and apply heat until the reaction kicks. At this point the compound becomes extremely exothermic and you need to start pumping cold water through the steam jacket until the reaction goes to completion. When it's reacted out, your pot will contain a solid block of white plastic and a layer of the water driven off in the reaction. The water's nice and clean; you can dump this into your steam generator. Grind the block of plastic into a powder and you're ready.

To make products from this plastic, first add colorants to the powder. Next, pour some powder into a mold. Apply several tons of pressure to the mold and heat it (usually with steam, the process engineer's favorite source of heat) until it becomes a solid object.

There is a LOT of Bakelite being made today. It is the very best thing to use for electrical devices--all of your light switches have Bakelite handles. Rigid coverplates are Bakelite, but vinyl ones have become popular. It is also a very strong plastic for use in things like router plates. It's falling out of favor for general use because it cannot be recycled (it is thermosetting), but the things it's used to make are things you generally don't just throw away--you don't buy new light switches every day.

[Patsy Stone]

14. It's cool, they don't make it anymore and

not that it's a selling point, but when it gets wet, it smells bad. That's how you know it's real. My .02 :)