Making Cents: Bakelite Baubles Are Hot, Hot, Hot

If you think your pieces of costume jewelry are just trinkets worth a few bucks or less at a garage sale, you may be wrong. Accessories made of inexpensive plastic have awakened nostalgia for the 1930s and ‘40s. Certain pieces were finished by hand and are sought by collectors willing to pay hundreds of dollars. Many of the pieces were made of Bakelite, a trademark name, by top-notch designers.