Comb, yellow with rhinestones, late 19th century, detail of crystallization

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Creator

Unknown

Date Created

Late 1800s

Subject

Costume accessories; Worn costume accessories; Comb

Description

Late 19th century. Yellow celluloid hair comb with eight rows of yellow rhinestones radiating out from a central point, and four teeth which have now broken off due to degradation of the material. Celluloid is an early plastic that mixed cellulose nitrate with a plasticizer, which is now leaching out and degrading the material, breaking it down into crystals.

Extent

Length: 12.7 cm / 5 in.
Width: 10.2 cm / 4 in.

Museum Number

428a

Publisher

University of New Hampshire Library

Medium

Celluloid, rhinestones

Contributor

Astrida Schaeffer, photographer/curator

Date Digitized

2-25-2019

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Comments

The Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection digital catalog was produced by the UNH Library Digital Collection Initiative, supported in part by a grant from the Mooseplate program and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Additional funding provided by the E. Ruth Buxton Stephenson Memorial Fund.
Photography copyright, Astrida Schaeffer.