Superb 1940's Bakelite Era Casein Turtle Fur Clip - French

 This is an amazing piece of early plastic jewellery.  It is a swimming turtle.  The body has been naively hand-carved from Casein, a Bakelite era early plastic. Casein is a milk-based plastic used to make buttons, buckles and costume jewelry in the first half of the 20th Century. Maybe I should have said it is Galalith, which is the name used by the French for this material because this lovely little brooch was made in France.  It is marked with the words ' Modele Depose' and 'Made in France' on the underside of the dress clip type metal fastener. The Turtle's body is a tortoiseshell brown in colour; his shell is a gilded or gold plated brass metal with the shell panels neatly engraved all over. This great pin is in excellent vintage order with a double pronged fastener with two very sharp pins!  This Turtle measures about 4cms from the tips of his nose to the point of his shell and 3.5cms across at the widest point from tip of flipper to tip of flipper.  This would make a lovely addition to an early plastic and bakelite jewellery collection - it is unusual and quirky and it could be yours....