VOGUE READY

These are wonderful 1930’s bakelite bracelets. Bakelite is probably the most collectible — and valuable — plastic in existence today. Bakelite was discovered in 1909 by a New York chemist, Belgian-born Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland, the son of a shoemaker. In the 1920s, production began on bakelite jewelry ; the colorful pieces were attractive and affordable to those affected by the Great Depression. They could be produced in various colors, but the most common were yellow, butterscotch, red, green and brown.