Do YOU remember the first purchase you made for your collection(s)?

For me, it was my first Bakelite purchase that set me on the road to collecting in that area: I purchased a pair of pins, one of which I still own and love very much. I vividly recall what I paid for my very first two pieces of Bakelite. I paid five bucks each for a pair of pins.

One of them was black and had a very edgy machine age style. I even remember to whom I sold it when I finally parted with it and how much the buyer paid me. It was our first meeting. He and I have been doing Bakelite business with each other ever since.

The piece that I was never able to part with for some reason was a simple Deco design, black and red, brass trim. I was wearing it one day back about 20 years ago when I looked down and discovered part of it was missing! RATS! I was devastated!

Side note: this is not the only personal fave Bakelite pin I've ever had damaged. The other one was damaged so badly I had to ship the parts of it off to Brad Elfrink at Elvenkrafte Studios to be put back together. You may know Brad as bael31 on eBay. Thankfully, he was able to save it. I'll have to dig up the photos of it to show you some time. It's a WONDERFUL pin, another I so vividly remember finding and one that has a delightful story behind it!

So, today, I'm going to share with you this piece that is so simple and yet makes me smile whenever I see it. Yesterday I opened up the jewelry case I used to carry with me when I traveled. Lo and behold! There was not only The First Bakelite Pin but several other pieces that I'd been wondering in the back of my mind, "what the heck did I do with those?"

The Bakelite pin, as mentioned, fell apart one day. When I discovered that the top had fallen off, I decided to retrace my steps to see if it was still where it had fallen. Imagine my shock and delight when I discovered it next to my car in the parking lot. It appears now that someone stepped on it at some point as the brass trim has some dents in it that were not there before but I really do not care. It's still a fave even though it had to be epoxied back together where the rivet had failed:



After it's long sleep in the jewelry case, it obviously needs to have the brass polished. I found the matching bracelet for it in the rightfully esteemed Route 66 West shop a year or several back but it had the "price available upon request" designation in place of a price which means it was way out of my price range. One day recently I was spending some quality time with Cathy Gordon's collection in the Bakelite category and - again, lo and behold! There's another matching bracelet yet again. Dadgummit! Maybe some day I'll be fortunate enough to run onto one for my very own. Check it out towards the bottom of the page. I keep hoping that the old "third time is a charm" rule could apply the next time I happen onto one. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here are another couple of long-time favorite pieces. Sometimes there is no accounting for what we find appealing but these are faves of mine. As you can see, I'm not a big collector of rhinestones.

The first one is yet another $5.00 deal. This one - again - I so vividly remember purchasing. The lady from whom I purchased it told me when asked it's price, "Well, honey, I'm going to have to get an awful lot for that one - it's real, real old. I got it from this old lady.......(and on and on). I've gotta have five dollars for it."

I, of course, could not get the money out fast enough. It was nasty and black and requires a lot of work to make it wearable when it's not been worn in a while. If not, it turns my neck green and gross, as you can imagine. The leafy-type connectors have a design patent on them that I need to go in and look up beyond it's date of issue some time. Might discover who made this necklace. The design patent dated to the 1930s.

Along with another favorite pin (The Tortolani Hyde Street Cable car pin in gold tone), in a small box right on the bottom was the bracelet that goes with my "go-to" necklace. I love this set so very much! The black rings are glass. This was purchased at a garage sale, dead of winter, literally about 10 degrees with a harsh north wind inside a north-facing garage. The wind and wind-chill-factor were so brutal that all of us there were laughing and asking each other "why are we so crazy to be here?". For me, when I opened a tiny snack-size zip-lock and the bracelet (along with it's matching necklace) literally sprang out into my hand, I knew why I was there:

Readers: What was the first piece you bought or the piece that inspired you to become a collector? Drop me a comment, share your experiences, include a link or two if you would like - I'd love to see what some of my readers enjoy. If you remember the circumstances, a funny story about who you purchased it from, the crazy location or insanely low price you paid - tell us all about it!

More Bakelite - I never get tired of it!

Those of you who have known me for years know full well that I have a rather significant monkey on my back when it comes to Bakelite. It's been a favorite for more years than I care to admit. Recently it's become painfully evident that I need to move out of the room I currently use as my home office so I've been clearing out the spare bedroom that had been overtaken by the inventory I used to haul around when I traveled to antique shows every week.

The unfortunate truth is that I've allowed all of that to sit in that spare room for several years untouched. It's like Christmas going through all those boxes. Much of it is a great surprise. Several items I've looked at and thought "What the heck was I thinking when I spent actual money on that?

During this process, I've found this wonderful cache of raw Bakelite stock. Most of it has been partially used - there are two sheets, one only about 7" square and the other about half that size in a rectangle.

There are various sizes of tube stock including a couple of bracelet tubes and another that appears to be (the brown one) but is really more suitable for a box, dice cup, pencil cup, something like that. It's just shy of a half inch thick but has the same OD as a bracelet tube. Too bad, so sad, not large enough to slip over a wrist. Being able to find a bracelet tube that thick would be such a thrill to send off for a custom design by my favorite Bakelite jewelry designer, Brad Elfrink.

So, here we go - some photos of the colorful array:

That blue moon tube was one I'd left with someone to be dotted but we never got together on it - I forgot about it, they recently returned it to me. I'm sure it's destined to go to the phenomenal Brad Elfrink of Elvenkrafte Studios to be carved into something totally spectacular.

Note above inside the green tube that's threaded. If you are not that familiar with Bakelite, perhaps you are unaware that Bakelite holds a thread just like it's supposed to. That tube may have been destined to be part of a salt and pepper shaker set. Who knows?

Another thing to note in the photo below, you have in front of you three of the shades that some people have difficulty differentiating: Butterscotch in that sheet at the back, top left, the square rod is creamed corn (originally pure white) and the thick round rod would be yellow. Sorry that the creamed corn rod's color is a bit washed out in the photo but you can see it nicely in the photo immediately above this text.


Below, note a couple of things: First - the transparent green rod just behind the big orange rod inside that blue moon tube is a Prystal that was originally blue. See the photo of the end of that rod below showing the portion on one end where I used a sheet of emery paper on it to remove some of the patina. Another color of interest in the grouping below is the tube on the right. That one, as you may be able to tell from the top is actually a rich, raspberry shade that has changed to a beautiful shade of rust. That's another tube that is probably headed to Brad at Elvenkrafte.




Below is the shot to show you the nice, thick wall on that brown tube. I can see this nicely carved with a contrasting color bottom and lid to be used as a decorative item or carved with a bottom inserted and used as a pencil or dice cup. If any of you out there have a better suggestion, be sure to drop me a line here or over at my booth on Bonanzle.


This is a shot of the sheet of butterscotch marbled stock held up to a light source so you can see the marbling a bit better. It's a lovely sheet!
Last but not least, here's the close-up on the green transparent rod - the end which better shows it's original shade before it gained it's rich patina:

These pieces are just a few of the types of stock that were available. There were rods in shapes such as butterflies, scottie dogs, those used to make napkin rings, the most popular of which were figurals such as this elephant :

This fellow is available for sale in my booth on Bonanzle!

Hope you will come by to say hello often!

DRESS CLIPS - redux - What they ARE!

I was just informed by someone over on Bonanzle that they did not even know what a dress clip was!

WELL! Here are a few back photos:

That lever on the back lifts up and it's "loaded" with a curved piece of flexible metal inside that holds it taught when it's closed.

Dress clips come in all types - metal, plastics, Bakelite, rhinestones, you name it!

Another similar mechanism is called a Fur Clip or Pin Clip and it's similar to the dress clip:

The fur clip mechanism sometimes has a c-closure that one or both ends can be inserted into.

When you see a patent for one of these, it generally is referred to as a "pin clip" for the obvious reasons. It's got pins and it clips (or clamps) down. It's spring-loaded in a similar fashio to the dress clips.

Bakelite Testing Redux: Primum non nocere aka: First, Not To Harm!

Good Saturday Morning to all!

This morning I was listing a few small Bakelite items in my booth "stuff" on Bonanzle

There are a lot of people who consider me to be quite the expert on the subject of Bakelite. I do know more than many but I'm certainly not on the same level as some true experts. I've simply got a lot of experience - good and bad - in having learned how to tell what is and what is not Bakelite. It's been well over 25 years since I bought my first piece of Bakelite. Once I got hold of my first pieces, I was hooked.

During my foray on the net this morning looking around for one of those very clever lists of cutesy names that we love to employ in our descriptions of vintage Bakelite colors, I discovered, quite to my chagrin, that there are an awful lot of blogs, personal and purportedly professional web pages and discussions in various forums that are dispersing a whole lot of downright mis-information on this subject.

The thing to remember whenever you are going about research as to what material you have, always remember: Primum non nocere or First, Not to Harm.

That alone - if you will only take the tiniest bit of responsibility for your actions and stop to think for even a moment - should translate quite readily into this:

Do not ever under any circumstances do a Hot Pin Test on any item for any reason.

Ever.

I will elaborate just a tiny bit more: If you think you are very stealth and it does not matter, that you did it on the inside "where no one can see when it's being worn", try to sell it to a serious and knowledgeable Bakelite collector without disclosing it.

When they discover that you sold them a piece of jewelry that has had the dreadful Hot Pin Test done on it, you should expect to be forced to accept a return, give a refund and never have the privilege of doing business with that collector again.

It is a huge deal with collectors. I know none who will buy pieces with HPT marks unless they are priced at about 5¢ on the dollar of their value and it's one they are really desperate to have in their collection - and even then, they will do so with great trepidation.

Very important to understand: That HPT mark devalues the item as much as 90% when it's done and it can never be undone.

Some other points I would like to make to you if you are a relatively new Bakelite collector:

If you are not really an expert, do not buy from anyone who does not offer you a 100% money-back guarantee that they are selling you authentic Vintage Bakelite. If you buy something you think might be Bakelite, contact me if you can't figure it out. I'll be glad to help you try to learn how to make an honest evaluation.

Making purchases from a reputable seller is essential for investment quality items such as better vintage Bakelite items.

We'll talk more later on about some of the things to avoid when shopping for items to add to your Bakelite collection!

And always remember to stop and think before you buy. Learn how to accept personal responsibility for your purchases if you are in too big a hurry to read a description. Ask questions. Read books, talk to other people. Verify your "facts" before accepting them. Keep asking questions if you are not sure.

Just because you read it on the internet does not necessarily make it right. But, please: trust me on this one - the hot pin test is a really bad one. That's a fact!

Newly listed Bakelite at Stuff on Bonanzle:

Bakelite Carved Grape cluster Dress Clip:

True End-of-Day Bakelite Earrings - three colors:



Set of three Bakelite buttons:

Come see me on Bonanzle!

Check out my Squidoo Lens on Testing Bakelite!