Vintage Art Deco machine age silver tone inset and large bright brick red early plastic, possibly galalith, bead chunky statement necklace

Vintage necklace from the 1930s with a fabulous Art Deco machine age design. The necklace consists of large bright red early plastic (probably galalith - an early plastic similar to bakelite) beads spaced around the necklace with shiny chrome beads and the most fabulous chrome coloured inset pieces on some of the beads. There are silver tone strips along some of the cone shaped beads, and the central spherical beads have some space age chrome circles set into them.

It has a choker length of 16 inches and fastens with a secure spring ring clasp. It is in very good vintage condition. It could be from a maker like Jakob Bengel, but I have not seen a similar design in the books detailing the work coming out of this factory in the Art Deco period, so cannot be sure.

Jakob Bengel was a chain and costume jewellery factory, founded by Jakob Bengel in 1873 in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Until 1920, the company specialised in the production of watch chains and chatelaines (pendants for pocket watches). In the 1920s and 1930s, it became one of the leading manufacturers of fashion jewellery in the Art Deco style. It was during the Bauhaus and Art Deco period that designers were looking to obtain new materials and inspiration to produce costume jewellery. Inspired by French Avant-Garde and other fashion trendsetters such as Coco Chanel, Bengel started to produce experimental jewellery. The pieces, catalogued 1924-1939, combined brass and chrome with geometric shapes of coloured galalith.