Art Deco Micro Faceted Red Cherry Amber Bakelite Pools of Light Bead Necklace

  
There are only a few man-made materials that have perhaps come to be sought after and valued even more than the natural ones they were created to mimic or simulate. This necklace is made out of one of those materials. It is called cherry amber bakelite. The beads look like a cherry or cherry-cum-cognac amber, but have several advantages. Among them, they are gloriously lightweight, easy for artisans to work with and, when faceted, they reflect and refract light in spectacular ways. To decide which one you want - and they are all beautiful in my opinion - you need to make 5 decisions. First, you need to decide whether you want smooth beads or faceted beads.

Second, whether you want round beads or oval beads. Third, whether you want the beads rubbing up against or adjacent to one another or separated by small spacer beads.

Fourth, whether you want the faceted beads to be of uniform size or graduated from very small beads to a few larger beads. Finally, you need to decide the length of the necklace you want.

Do you want a choker size, a gentle drop size or one that you can loop around more than once? This particular vintage cherry amber bakelite necklace affords you an optimal combination of characteristics in my view. It has both faceted beads and round beads, all fashioned out of cherry amber bakelite. There are 24 faceted beads and 25 small spacer beads.

The faceted beads are oval. The small spacer beads are round. They are all finished off with a simple lobster clasp.

When you wear the necklace, what you see is a wash of the beautiful cherry amber color, an amber afterglow on the skin created by light passing through the cherry amber beads, and intersecting prisms, patterns and pools of light created by the refracting light. In this necklace, the faceted beads are of a uniform size, rather than graduating from smaller beads to a single larger bead. You will probably have a preference for one look over the other. Personally, generally I like the look of a graduated necklace on me, but that is when the stones making up the necklace are opaque.

When the stones are either transparent or translucent and part of the beauty of the necklace lies in the glow, aura or halo light leaves when it passes through the stones, my preference is for a uniform series of beads. It enables refracting light to make patterns I find very pleasing. As you can see in the pictures, the necklace is a very graceful one and the cherry amber color is both rich and intense.

Length of necklace: 18 1/2 inches. Length of Faceted beads: approx. Width of Faceted beads: approx 3/8th inch. UPDATE: Because the necklace was so old, the silk cord on which it was strung broke in my hands one day. I have now had the necklace re-strung on new high quality silk cord.

Hopefully, it will last at least another 80 years or so! The item "Art Deco Micro Faceted Red Cherry Amber Bakelite Pools of Light Bead Necklace" is in sale since Tuesday, March 5, 2019. This item is in the category "Jewelry & Watches\Vintage & Antique Jewelry\Necklaces & Pendants". The seller is "wiregauge" and is located in New York, New York. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, China, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Brazil, France, Australia, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Antigua and barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Montserrat, Turks and caicos islands, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Peru, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Viet nam, Uruguay.

1. Features: Refracts light beautifully
2. Department: Women
3. Main Stone Color: Cognac, Cherry Amber
4. Handmade: Yes
5. Chain Type: Silk Cord
6. Modified Item: Yes
7. Item Length: 18 1/2 inches
8. Occasion: Party, Celebration, Formal, All
9. Vintage: Yes
10. Main Stone Length: 15 mm
11. Material: Bakelite
12. Main Stone: Cherry Amber Bakelite Beads
13. Modification Description: All Beads Original, but newly re-strung on silk cord, new clasp
14. Shape: Faceted Beads, Rondelle Spacers
15. Jewelry Department: Fine
16. Main Stone Width: 9 mm
17. Brand: Handmade
18. Style: Strand/String
19. Country of Origin: Unknown
20. Antique: Yes
21. Color: Cherry Amber, Red
22. Signed: No
23. Closure: New Clasp
24. Type: Necklace
25. Original/Reproduction: Original