Many types of plastics have been used in the production of costume jewelry. The most commonly used plastics are celluloid bakelite and Lucite. Celluloid was used in jewelry as early as the 19th century but was highly flammable and was in limited use. A non-flammatory celluloid was introduced in 1927 and became a very popular material for jewelry such as bangles, pins and hair ornaments such as combs and hatpins. Bakelite, a phenol based resin was discovered in 1909. It was widely popular in the 1930's, when plastic jewelry was the only jewelry many could afford to buy. Lucite is a clear plastic and was introduced by the Dupoint Corporation in 1937 and used in jewelry as early as 1940. It was much more cost effective and widely replaced Bakelite by the 1950's and was famous for jelly belly figurals and intaglio style jewelry. Look for examples of these types of jewelry in this category.
