I will be happy to give you a FREE JEWELRY ASSESSMENT of your vintage costume jewelry. I am not a jeweler but will be happy to look at a photo of your jewelry and tell you what I know. I will give you my opinion of a range of values. This is not a guarantee of value.
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When I first started out, identifying all the different plastic materials in vintage costume jewelry was difficult! So, this page is dedicated to helping you identify your jewelry.
First, take my advice and purchase a jeweler’s loupe. It’s invaluable in identifying all types of jewelry. It will pay for itself within a couple of uses. You can purchase a loupe online or possibly from your local jeweler. They are quite inexpensive. Mine magnifies items 10X.
How to Identify Bakelite:
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Color: Bakelite tends to come in certain color families: creams, yellows, butterscotch, greens, reds, red-browns, oranges, browns, and black. Bakelite can be translucent and it can be with swirled with several colors. You can see Bakelite in other colors but not often.
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Smell: Take your Bakelite jewelry and rub it hard with your thumb until you generate some heat. Immediately sniff the plastic. Many times Bakelite gives off a distinctive chemical smell. Once you smell Bakelite, it’s easy to remember that smell. You can run a piece of Bakelite under hot water and sometimes it gives off that distinctive smell. I personally prefer to rub it.
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Sound: Bakelite is heavy and chunky. It’s solid. Knock two bangles together and you will hear and feel a substantial “clack”.
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The Simichrome test: There is a non-abrasive metal polish known as Simichrome Polish. I’ve also used something called Maas Metal polish. You can purchase a tube of this polish at a hardware store or Walmart. I think it’s a miracle worker because it’s fantastic for polishing sterling silver jewelry. Anyway, put a pea-sized amount of Simichrome or Maas polish on a white cotton dishtowel. Rub your Bakelite across the polish. If the cloth turns a yellowish color, you have Bakelite. If a piece is lacquered, it may fail a Simichrome test. Also, some black Bakelite doesn’t pass this test. I have been told that Simichrome sometimes gives off a false positive, so I would not rely solely on this test. Your jewelry still has to look and feel “right” to be Bakelite.
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The Formula 409 test: This test works like the Simichrome test. Dampen a cotton swab with Formula 409. (Do not use anything else – it’s got to be Formula 409!) Rub the damp swab on the inside or back of your Bakelite jewelry. If the swab turns yellow, the jewelry is testing positive for Bakelite. Again, some lacquered and black Bakelite will not pass this test. This should work for most jewelry.
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Mold Lines: If you are holding a piece of Bakelite, a bangle for example, you should NOT see lines where it was molded during manufacture. You should not see any mold lines on the interior of the bangle.
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Hardware: The metal back of a pin should be inserted into the Bakelite, not glued. This is not to say that Bakelite jewelry never has glue, but if you do see glue, you should investigate further.
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Chips and Lines in Carving: If your Bakelite piece is carved, get out your loupe. Look at the edge of a carving. This works well with Bakelite beads. Do you see tiny chips or along the edges of the carving or tiny lines within the carving? This is characteristic of Bakelite.
How to Identify Celluloid:
Celluloid was manufactured as an early plastic. Jewelry made of celluloid dates to about 1900 and was quite popular during the Art Deco period. It is a lightweight plastic, many times a cream color. Sometimes the cream celluloid is painted to add color. In the 1950s, a lot of celluloid jewelry was manufactured in Japan. Celluloid can be quite distinctive looking, many times with rhinestones embedded into the jewelry or molded/carved into floral designs.
How to Identify Lucite:
I identify Lucite by sight and style. Lucite can be most any color. It can be opaque or transparent. It was molded into hard-sided purses, molded into jewel shapes and put on jewelry, made into beads. While Lucite is actually a brand name, I use the word LUCITE to describe all better quality plastics of this type. These plastics have no mold lines and do not have an odor when run under hot water. There are several types of Lucite from the 1940s-1970s that you will see commonly:
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Confetti Lucite - this can be in any color but has glitter embedded inside.
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Lucite with seashells and abalone inside.
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Thermoset Lucite - was molded into shapes and put on top of jewelry. Can be any color or shape.
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Moonglow Lucite – a pearly Lucite, in any color.
How to Identify Amber:
Amber is a natural tree resin that can be molded into the same shapes as chemically-made “plastics”. Most amber used in jewelry will range from yellow to brown in color. It runs a range from transparent to translucent. You might see a perfectly clear piece with no “cracks” or inclusions or your amber may be full of these. There is an immature type of amber, not as desirable, known as copal amber. It will not stand up to the tests below. So, if you have something that looks like amber but doesn’t pass these tests, it is copal amber or a plastic. There are several tests to identify amber and my favorite is the static test.
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Static test: Rub your amber against a cotton cloth. It will become electrostatically charged. The charged amber should pick tiny pieces of paper like a magnet.
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Solvent test: Please be careful here and don’t ruin your jewelry. You can apply a drop of acetone (fingernail polish remover) to your amber. If it becomes sticky or tacky, it is not true amber. Wash your jewelry as soon as you complete the test.
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Bouyancy test: Amber will float in salt water. Make a solution of 2 ½ teaspoons of salt per cup of water and dissolve. True amber will float.
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