Islamic Prayer Beads Cherry Red Speckled Galalith 99 Beads Rare Collector's

Galalith is a semi synthetic  material manufactured by the interaction of casein and formaldehyde.

In 1893, French chemist Auguste Trillat discovered the means to insolubilize casein by immersion in formaldehyde.

Casein is the name for a family of related proteins which are commonly found in mammalian milk , making up 80% of the proteins in cow milk.

Galalith, sometimes called "milk stone", is therefore a semi synthetic material, opposed to Bakelite that is a totally 100 % synthetic.

Given a commercial name derived from the Greek words gala (milk) and lithos (stone), Galalith is particularly hard with a density of 1.35. It is odourless, insoluble in water, biodegradable, antiallergenic, antistatic and virtually nonflammable . It is also resistant to acids and solvents.

Like wood it can be sawn, lathe-worked, drilled, milled, glued, mechanically or hand polished, and its structure manipulated to create a series of effects. No other plastic material at the time could compete on price, and with ivory, horn and bone products becoming far more expensive, it found a natural home in the fashion industry.

This new material was presented at Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900.

Galalith could produce gemstone imitations that looked strikingly real. In 1926 even Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel  used it in the production of her costume Jewelry Galalith was also used for striking Art Deco jewelry designs by artists such as Jacob Bengel and Auguste Bonaz, as well as for hair combs and accessories. By the 1930s, Galalith was also used for pens, umbrella handles, white piano keys (replacing natural ivory), and electrical goods.

Production slowed as the restrictions of World War II to a need for milk as a food, and also due to new oil-derived wartime plastic developments.

The fact that Galalith may be considered as an extinct material which will definitely stop to be available very soon, gives extreme rarity to whatever intact rod or raw material that may still be found today. Consequently whatever may be produced from such material is becoming a truly high valued item of utmost rarity and avidly sought after by collectors.