Featured old ? plastic cameo brooch

hi guys something else i bought today, thought that it was worth a £1 as it looked quite old, thought it might have been bakelite, but unsure now

any thoughts appreciated

 

Very pretty, charlie.
Are those black lines or just cracks? They don't go in the same direction, but I wonder if she could be bone anyway?

 

I just noticed the raised bit behind the pin, yes, she is (an early?) plastic.

 

Thanks Aj, the big black one is what's commonly known and what alcoholics call 'hair of the dog' !

Doesn't feel like bone, pretty sure it's a plastic though

 

Meant to suggest ivory, of course, but definitely plastic. Not Celluloid or that family of materials. Doesn't have the faintly matte quality I associate with Bakelite. Lots of other formulations for plastic, doubt pinning down which one this is matters. Going by good quality of the plastic vs. poor quality of metal pin assembly & the way it has been attached, would say it is WWII era. She's very pretty, could do with a clean.

 

Thanks Bronwen

 

Well. I would've said celluloid.

Not the first time @Bronwen and I disagree over plastics.

 

Charlie's piece looks like an even shade of off-white, nearly or completely opaque. My experience with cameos of Celluloid, etc., is that they have lines intended to imitate the long grain in ivory, have yellowed by now, & easily allow light through.


Also think OP's cameo was made after the heyday of Celluloid.

 

"After the heyday," may be a fair point. I don't really have a pinpoint sense of the time.

But there was/is lots of molded "celluloid" jewelry without the ivory look and without transparency in age.

That said, you've looked at way more cameos than I have.