Name/Title
Bangle bracelet, butterscotch/amber plastic (Jablonec)Entry/Object ID
2025.1.80Description
A single rigid bangle bracelet of warm butterscotch/amber-toned plastic, circular with a rounded (D-shaped) cross-section — a smooth, undecorated domed band, wider and thicker at the outer wall and tapering slightly to the inner edge. The surface is glossy with light surface scratches, small scuffs, and a few shallow nicks from wear; the color is an even caramel/ochre with faint mottling. There are no markings.Item Type
ArmbandUse
Used by María A. Cabrera Arús for adornment.Context
Gift from a Czechoslovakian family friend.Collection
The Cabrera Arús family collection, María A. Arús Caraballo collectionMade/Created
Manufacturer
JablonecPlace
Country
CzechoslovakiaRegion
Eastern EuropeContinent
EuropeNotes
MAKER: Attributed to the Jablonec nad Nisou (Gablonz) costume-jewelry industry, Czechoslovakia — see research notes (identical example in the Jablonec museum catalogue). The specific producing enterprise is not identified, and the bangle itself bears no maker's mark.
DATE / PERIOD: Not marked.
ORIGIN: Jablonec nad Nisou (Gablonz), Bohemia, Czechoslovakia — attributed on the basis of an identical example in the Museum of Glass and Jewellery (Jablonec) reference volume.Materials
Material Notes
MATERIALS: Cast/molded plastic in a butterscotch/amber color. The appearance is the classic "Bakelite" (cast phenolic resin) look, but the material is not confirmed; period Czechoslovak bangles were made in various cast and molded plastics, so the type should be verified by non-destructive testing rather than assumed.
TECHNIQUES: Cast or molded as a solid rigid hoop, then turned/shaped to the domed profile and polished. No applied decoration.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
María A. Arús CaraballoNotes
ownerRelated Places
Place
City
HavanaCountry
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaNotes
usePlace
Country
CzechoslovakiaRegion
Eastern EuropeContinent
EuropeNotes
purchase, productionResearch Notes
Notes
A 1975 Jablonex fashion image in Dreaming of the Future: Design of Czechoslovak Glass and Jewellery 1948–1989, Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou (captioned "Jablonex 1975") shows wide, plain, brightly colored bangles — red, yellow, navy — stacked as a fashionable stack, documenting that bangles of this form and saturated palette were part of the Jablonex/Jablonec export range in the mid-1970s. Jablonex was the Czechoslovak state foreign-trade enterprise that exported Jablonec-region glass and costume jewelry. This supports a Czechoslovak origin and a circa-1975 date for the bangle. The correspondence is stylistic and by palette rather than exact. It therefore corroborates the type and period but does not by itself constitute a one-to-one identification, and it does not settle whether the bangle is cast plastic or lacquered/stained wood.Created By
María A. Cabrera ArúsCreate Date
October 17, 2025Updated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsUpdate Date
June 14, 2026
