Did you know that here at Sheffield Auction Gallery, we not only consign fine and antique jewellery, we also include many pieces of costume jewellery, despite age or style in our fortnightly sales of silver, jewellery and watches!

We all have our favourite eras or styles of jewellery - personally, my favourite era of costume jewellery has to be the use of early plastic in the Art Deco period. From bakelite beads, to reverse carved Lucite brooches, or intricately carved celluloid pieces. 

The popularity of plastic use within jewellery peaked during the 1930’s, mainly due to its durability, expense and ability to imitate materials such as ivory and tortoiseshell. 

The Early XX Century saw a huge rise in the use of natural materials, such as tortoiseshell, ivory and bone. The use of these materials extended way beyond jewellery, into collectable items such as piano keys, billiard balls, paintings, combs and much more. The rate of production and demand for these pieces meant that the poaching and harvesting of the animals the materials originated from, reached dangerous levels and threatened extinction.

The rise and progression in the production of plastic, saw many designers and creators delve into the possibilities of utilising plastic within the jewellery industry, creating some of the fabulous and unique vintage pieces we see today.

Vintage bakelite jewellery is more often found in the form of large beads, and is a highly sought after material to collectors and retro-fanatics. We can identify bakelite in a few interesting and natty ways. The most common way of identifying a bakelite bead is to check for seams around the edges of the bead, if there are seams present, this could indicate that it is instead a plastic such as lucite, and if there are no seams, you could be in luck! A more interesting way to identify bakelite, is by utilising the element of formaldehyde that is used to form the plastic - you can rub the piece vigorously with your thumb to create a small amount of heat, this breaks down the constituent elements, phenol and formaldehyde - if you smell formaldehyde, bakelite is your bead! A string of large vintage bakelite beads recently sold for upward for £150 at auction!

In terms of lucite, this acrylic plastic was cheaper than bakelite to produce and possess both a glass-like finish and lightweight durability - we can see lucite utilised in more contemporary or Kitsch designs, such as statement floral necklaces, chunky bangles or reverse carved brooches depicting floral sprays, crinoline lady’s and much more. 

As previously mentioned, plastic jewellery began to imitate natural materials, and celluloid was a key player. Imitating ivory and tortoise shell, this plastic gained popularity throughout the 1930’s and 40’s. Similarly to lucite, the lightweight durability and ease of carving intricate designs made celluloid the perfect imitation material to create the sought after designs that were becoming more and more sparse with the overuse of natural materials, even the use of shell within cameo jewellery was imitated with this versatile plastic! In addition to this, celluloid was also highly popular for creating novelty brooches, such as animals, souvenirs and many more fun and unique designs.

So, if you think you may have some early plastic jewellery or would simply like to consign your costume jewellery with Sheffield Auction Gallery, a member of the team is always here to help!