Vintage Jakob Bengel Art Deco machine age chrome, copper tone and marbled, deep green galalith panel bracelet

Fabulous Jakob Bengel Art Deco chrome, copper tone and galalith geometric bracelet. This is an extremely desirable piece from the 1930s, showing many sought after features of this type of machine age jewellery, for example shiny chrome and unusual copper tone that does not look as though it is 90+ years old, and pieces of marbled green galalith.

It has lovely geometric, sculptural Art Deco links divided by beautiful rectangular galalith pieces. The geometric pieces of the casein-based early plastic called galalith are in a marbled dark green that is very attractive.

The bracelet has a length of just over 7.5 inches and fastens with a well-engineered push-in box clasp, hidden within the end panels. The vintage condition is very good, with no flaws in the galalith pieces and minimal wear to the metallic surfaces for the age. The final picture shows a screenshot of page 100 of the book 'Jakob Bengel Oberstein From Art Industry to Jewellery Design' edited by Wilhelm Lindemann (2023). There are numerous hand-drawn designs for panel bracelets similar to this one.

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.