An early synthetic plastic material made from phenol-formaldehyde resin, popular in the 1920s-1940s for decorative objects and jewelry.
From Catalin Corporation, the American company that trademarked and popularized this plastic in the early 20th century. The brand name became a generic term for the material.
Catalin jewelry and art deco objects from the 1930s are now highly collectible because the plastic yellowed and aged in beautiful, unpredictable ways—what was a manufacturing flaw became a feature collectors seek out today.
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