Costume Jewelry Piece of the Day

Lots of Bakelite Earrings

These earrings tested positive for Bakelite. They were the result of my "let's smell Bakelite" experiments. It became kind of an obession. I gathered up hundreds of earrings, bought some Simichrome, got some hot water, and smelled away.

Bakelite smells awful.

I tried to be careful when doing the tests. I wouldn't consider any pair of earrings that didn't get a positive response from the Simichrome polish (the pink substance had to turn BRIGHT yellow) and I made sure they all had the same smell and feel to them. There is one exception pictued here. The black disc-shaped earrings do not pass the Simichrome test, but they have the same smell and feel as the dark marbled green pair. Given this, I consider them to PROBABLY be Bakelite.