Vintage Jakob Bengel Art Deco machine age silver tone / chrome with deep cherry red and black galalith bead geometric double strand necklace

Fabulous two stranded necklace from the 1930s from the Jakob Bengel factory. This design uses many of Bengel's characteristic component parts including shiny 'cup' bead caps, some with organic crimped edges and large galalith beads and filigree chrome beads with an overall architectural Deco style. The galalith beads have a vibrant cherry red colour alternating with black.

The longer strand of the necklace has a length of about 20 inches and the shorter strand about 16 inches. It fastens with a secure screw barrel clasp. It is in very good vintage condition - the lights for the photography pick up the brass tones underneath the chrome plating as it has got very thin over the years, but the plating is still intact.

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.