Large Celluloid Overlay Comb with Coils Design

Ref: DE-0109-006

This large sized hair comb is made by an interesting manufactured technique called celluloid overlay. This is where the item is made in two separate castings of contrasting colours.

Here for example a transparent base coat has been cast with a shiny upper shell which shows along the edges of the swirled design and the tips of the tines.

Picture 9 is taken from a contemporary advertisement in a French fashion magazine called EROS and shows a model wearing a similar oversized hair comb at a jaunty angle.

Size: 6½ x 6¼ ins; (approx 16.5 x 16 cms)

£35.00

Faux Tortoiseshell Hair Comb with Geometric Design

Ref: DE-0109-007

In general, Art Deco designs incorporated Cubist and Futurist art which influenced fashion, architecture and interior design. Very jazzy and geometric, the designs celebrated all the excitement of the machine age and were definitely more angular, fantastical and bold than the previous flowing designs of the Art Nouveau period.

The design of this comb incorporates a number of Deco favourites such as the radiating sunray or spokes which appear at the base of the heading. This is combined with the kinds of intricate latticework which appear on oriental screens for a very eye-catching and unusual effect.

Picture 9 is taken from a contemporary glamour postcard and shows a model wearing a similar oversized hair comb at an acute asymmetric angle.

Size: 6½ x 6¾ ins; (approx 16.5 x 17 cms)

£35.00

Jade Green Colour Sunray Pattern Comb

Ref: DE-0109-008

This classic fan shaped hair comb is in a wonderful shade of celadon green with a distinct marbled effect. These Art Deco combs were produced in fancy celluloid effects which wonderfully mimicked those of natural materials such as tortoiseshell, amber, marble and mother of pearl. The solid fan shaped heading of this large comb features the iconic spokes or sunray design whereby lines radiate out from the base.

This is a very typical motif in Art Deco combs, and in the art of the period. Some people interpret the spokes as representing the wheel, and thus symbolising the Futurist fascination with speed and machinery.

Picture 9 is taken from a contemporary French fashion magazine called EROS and shows a model wearing a similar oversized hair comb at a jaunty angle.

Size: 6½ x 7 ins; (approx 16.5 x 18 cms)

£35.00

Huge French Ivory Mantilla Style Comb

Ref: DE-1008-026

This ornament is of the type known as Spanish or mantilla comb because it resembles the traditional tortoiseshell ornaments worn by Spanish ladies with their native dress. The production of the opera Carmen led to a fashion for high Spanish style combs in the 1870s, and they remained fashionable throughout the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, and into the 1920s. It is made in French ivory, which was invented as a substitute for natural ivory that was becoming rare and expensive.

Size: 9 x 5½ ins (approx 23 x 14 cms)

£65.00