Vintage Jakob Bengel Art Deco machine age chrome geometric necklace from the 1930s

Lovely Jakob Bengel machine age Art Deco necklace from the 1930s. It consists of circular links, some textured almost like steampunk cogs or flattened nautical ropes, some smooth and with elongated machine age links in between.

This piece is a really unusual example and a collector's piece. It is heavy, well-made and as soon as you handle it, you can feel the quality and recognise that it is from the Bengel factory. It fastens with a large spring ring clasp. It has a length of about 17 inches.

The necklace is in very good vintage condition - under the photography lights, you sometimes catch glimpses of the gold tone brass underneath the chrome plating.

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.