Common Items Most People Don’t Know Are Valuable

22. Bakelite Jewelry

Bakelite was invented way back in 1907, and it was the first form of plastic resin. It became famous for jewelry-making with chunky bangles and necklaces, often featuring wild, earthy colors and fanciful carving. Over the years, techniques for making plastic were improved, and Bakelite is no longer manufactured. If you saw a Bakelite bracelet, you might just think it’s a plastic piece of costume jewelry from the dollar store, although the unique yellows and oranges they produced can sometimes be a giveaway. Before you throw these styles of bracelets away, look online to do some at-home tests.

One common, though subjective, test for Bakelite is to simply rub the plastic vigorously with your fingers and then smell it immediately. While it sounds strange, Bakelite plastic produces a very distinctive burning hair smell when warmed up, and simply rubbing the plastic until warm is enough to produce the smell. Other people recommend heating a pin and holding it to an unobtrusive place on the jewelry, and smelling the smoke produced. However, this can leave a permanent mark on the jewelry, and you probably don’t want to inhale vintage more plastic resin smoke than necessary for your health.