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Alexander Parks Parkastien Plastic 1st plastic ever made Flapper Girl Necklace

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Celluloid Jewelry7 of 33Flower bracelet My 1.00 garage sale find.
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    Posted 6 years ago

    Jenn16038
    (2 items)

    1st Plastic Made before Bakelite Catalin Antique Flapper Girl Necklace. Made in the late 1800s possibly by Alexander Parks himself. He was the first inventor to make plastic. There are 2 types of plastic semi and fully synthetic. Parks made the 1st plastic considered semi synthetic because natural organic compounds werr used in it to make it malleable. It's was called Parkastien.Later in 1907 Bakeland invented the 1st fully synthetic plastic. According to webkapedia "Parkes took out his first patent (No. 8905) in 1841 on a process for electroplating delicate works of art. His improved method for electroplating fine and fragile objects, such as flowers, was granted a patent in 1843. The patent involved electroplating an object previously dipped in a solution of phosphorus contained in bisulfide of carbon, and then in nitrate of silver. A spider's web, silver-plated according to this method, was presented to Prince Albert when he visited the Elkington works in 1844."
    "In total, Parkes held at least 66 patents on processes and products mostly related to electroplating and plastic development"
    If you look at the photos the blue is scattered onto the white. At first I thought it was just marbled Bakelite till I read more about Parks and Hyatt. Now marbling makes no sense. Also it smelled like Bakelite only stronger.Then I realized that the yellow patina was different then what seen on my old Bakelite, Also it doesn't pit like Bakelite.I believe that it's because it contains organic material and the yellowing is different because it may have been dipped for electroplating. There is one piece that shows a cracking in the coating. It's photographed. The necklace has a Spring ring clasp that was joined by screwed in pins. The spring ring clasp was 1st patented in the early 1900s but was likely in use for a short time prior. Parks passed away in 1890. From 1840-1850 is when he invented the plastic. The necklace is in a single long strand that was carved. The total length is 52 inches. See pics for details.

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    Comments

    1. Jenn16038, 6 years ago
      Electroplated plastic. Similar to what was presented to prince Albert
    2. lentilka11, 6 years ago
      very interesting, thank you for sharing!

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