The Bakelite Jewelry Book by Corinne Davidov (1988, Hardcover)

I LOVE THE "BAKELITE JEWELRY BOOK" IT IS A WONDERFUL GUIDE FOR COLLECTORS OR A GREAT WAY TO LEARN ABOUT AN EXCITING FORM OF PLASTIC JEWELRY THAT IS NOT MADE TODAY. THE COLOR PRESENTATIONS ARE EXCITING AND IT IS PACKED WITH INTERESTING HISTORICAL INFORMATION. IT IS ONE OF MY ENCYCLOPEDIAS OF BAKELITE AND A VERY IMPORTANT ADDITION TO MY COLLECTION.

The book has a good history of plastic jewelry, good reading it, and very good photos of bakelite bracelets and other pieces. Pricing information is very outdated. I bought it because of the pictures. I love to look at the pictures. I had actually gotten this book from the library first to help determine which book about bakelite jewelry to purchase. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in early plastic jewelry or to anyone with "bakelite fever".

I went to our library and checked out every book I could find on bakelite. This book, above all others, was the most informative. It has pages upon pages of beautiful photos and it's rich with the history of bakelite and what it meant to our culture and later to our fashion. Bakelite truly changed our world. Seriously. It was a durable and inexpensive material that nearly every industry used. They used it in the military. They used it in the fire departments. They used it to build radios and electrical outlets. They even made floors out of bakelite and according to Fred Astaire, it was the best floor of all for dancing.

Then it became jewelry (catalin) at a time when people had been struggling through the great depression for years. It was happy and colorful. It expressed an optimism about life and the future. It was also very affordable and the women of the world took to it like nothing before or since.

If you can have only one book on bakelite, get this one.

Nice book that gives a fine overview of the bakelite scene. Full of color pictures that leave no doubt that collecting the jewelry is great fun and you will have fun, funky things to wear ! Great reference for collectors.