Vintage Cream & Green Paste Drop Earrings

• Paste / Rhinestone / Diamante - Paste (or rhinestone or diamante) is the name given to a coloured glass composition used for imitation gemstones, or to imitation gemstones made of glass.
  
  Although the technique of glassmaking had been known for thousands of years, but it wasn't until a lead glass with similar optical properties to diamonds were invented by a German jeweller working in Paris (either "Stras" or 'Strasser") in the early 18th century that "paste" gemstones became popular.
  
  There was no social stigma attached to wearing imitation stones, and they were worn in situations where highway robbery was a possibility. The 18th century settings were of very high quality, equivilent to real gemstone jewellery.
  
  In the nineteeth century the quality of paste jewellery declined and it has remained the poor cousin to genuine gemstones ever since.
• Celluloid - In 1864 an American scientist by the name of Parkes mixed camphor with nitrocellulose, etc. The result was what came to be known as "celluloid", the first form of plastic, and a product for which Parkes could find no use.
  
  Some time later when the supplies of ivory for making billiard balls were becoming difficult to obtain, an inventor produced a perfect billiard ball from a mould using "celluloid".
  
  Toys, dolls and other products such as combs, cutlery handles and costume jewellery made from celluloid began appearing on the market from 1913 and continued to do so until the early 1950s by which time it was superseded by more modern products due to safety concerns because it was highly flammable and brittle product.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• earrings, gold - gold and diamond drop / pendant 3,185
• earrings, period or style - other materials / styles 308
• earrings, set with - topaz 2,858