Art Deco carved green galalith necklace

This is an enchanting French Art Deco necklace, dating from around the 1920s yet with a very modern contemporary feel for today’s discerning fashionista.

It features hand carved galalith beads of different shapes and sizes and in various shades of green, black and mustard that blend together wonderfully.

The beads have been restrung onto hand knotted green silk thread. The necklace closes with a striated barrel screw clasp. It measures 46 cm long and the large central bead is 2.5 cm long.

Casein or Galalith was a plastic made from milk protein and formaldehyde. Invented in Germany, it was launched by The International Galalith Gesseschaft Hoff & Co at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900. It could not be moulded like Bakelite but had to be cut or carved from rods or sheets. It was beautifully glossy and could be polished to a long-lasting silky lustre, but due to its tendency to warp or splinter could only be used for small pieces.