parts, metal balls of varying size were added to create stepped patterns.
Necklaces with matching earrings highlighted Galalith forms such as disks, balls, cones or rods, with metal used sparingly, merely as a link. Thick silk cords in black, red or blue, combined with balls of metal or Galalith, made attractive neck jewelry; their length could be varied by the “slides” so typical of the time. Bengel’s imagination knew no bounds in its use of hollow chains: torques (collars or chokers) and bangles were made of articulated metal shower hose run through with silk ribbon that was temptingly revealed in flashes of color. Along with combinations of plastic or textile with metal, the Bengel range included a wide variety of pure metal jewelry made of wall chains (resembling brickwork) with touches of colorful lacquer.
Thanks to Hartenberger’s foresight and business acumen, Bengel soon forged ties abroad. For a decade, the company showed what it termed its “special articles for all countries – continuous creations of modern novelties – bracelets-necklaces in Galalith-Metal” at the annual Leipzig jewelry trade fair, the most important such event of the time in Germany. Retailers and wholesalers would converge there to familiarize themselves with Bengel’s newest offerings and to order customized chains and pendants. The most important retail clients supplied by Bengel were the big department stores in Paris, such as the Grands Magasins du Louvre, the Samaritaine and the Printemps, as well as Woolworth in New York.
With Sample Book Vol. XIV and model number 29,470 in 1939, Bengel’s production of metal and Galalith jewelry virtually ended; with the outbreak of World War II, the market for such products collapsed. Then, in 1939, the use of Galalith in jewelry was officially
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