Victorian Vulcanite Cross Mourning Pendant

While many people equate the Industrial Revolution with the invention of the steam engine or the cotton gin, another more ubiquitous product also emerged from this transformative era -- plastic. Similar in concept to the plastics of today, these early Victorian era plastics were derived from natural materials that could be made malleable, molded or chemically altered to create a new hardened substance. This groundbreaking discovery revolutionized everyday 19th century life and soon natural and semi-synthetic plastics were utilized in everything from picture frames and belt buckles to coated telegraph cables and false teeth. Naturally, it didn't take long before these magical plastics took the jewelry world by storm -- starting first with gutta-percha in 1822. However, this beautiful piece hails from the second phase in the evolution of semi-synthetic plastics with the invention of vulcanite. Developed and patented in the 1840s by both Charles Goodyear in the US and Thomas Hancock in Br