I know nothing about the material, but assume the shown sample-card dates from some time between 1920 and 1940 (possibly closer to the 1940's). It doubt it is a coincidence that the card displays beads in red and black, the main color-combination of ART DÉCO.
Karlis
Are you sure of the name?
I know of a black substance called EBONITE, a synthetic jet – Google tells us:
“Ebonite is a brand name for very hard rubber first obtained by Charles Goodyear by vulcanizing natural rubber for prolonged periods. For vulcanizing natural rubber he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844.“
I learned to play the oboe for a while as a teenager- the sections of the instrument were made of Ebonite... And it was also used to make buttons and other small items...
Another simulant for jet is “Bois Durci”
Best wishes
Stefany
(off topic)- so long as you weren't thinking of Ebola...
Not what you requested and mostly about the Victorian era, but there are references in the below to other uses (i.e., dental and architectural) of these materials during other periods.
Just a comment, 1921 was very early for the Art Deco. Perhaps the Silk & Co. beads are more Cubist?
https://archive.org/search.php?query=vulcanite
includes reference to “vulcanite ebonite:” http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=vulcanite&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=vulcanite+jewelry&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5
In case it helps (but, again, not what you asked for), I searched on vulcanite + button and/or bead and/or archeology or archeological:
GOOGLE SCHOLAR-click on the links or paste link into the browser for more citations.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=vulcanite+button+bead&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5
Archaeological Investigations for the Cross Creek Flood Control Project, Rossville, Kansas. Volume 1.
MJ Wagner, TA Sandefur, MJ McNerney, WG Howe… - 1995 - DTIC Document
... Bottle closures, Site 14SH359 89 Figure 34. Metal artifacts, Site 14SH359 93 Figure 35. Metal
artifacts, Site 14SH359 96 Figure 36. Bone and shell buttons, Site 14SH359 99 Figure 37. Buttons
and metal artifacts, Site 14SH359, Dwight Streeter collection ... 102 Figure 38. ...
Related articles All 3 versions Cite SaveSaved
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA311242
[BOOK] The Archaeology Beneath Piper's Opera House: A Study of a Nineteenth-Century American Performance Hall
M Memmott, D Hardesty - 2004 - academia.edu
... 92 Figure 6-11: Five of the fire affected ferrous pulleys from the excavation.....
92 Figure 6-12: Five of the formal buttons from the excavation..... 96 Figure
6-13: The colorless glass button inset with star pattern..... ...
Cited by 1 Related articles Cite SaveSaved More
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=vulcanite+bead+archaeological&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=vulcanite+archaeology&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&oq=vulcanite+arch
GOOGLE BOOKS-click on the link or paste link into the browser for more citations.
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=vulcanite+archeology#tbm=bks&q=vulcanite+bead+archeology&*
Thanks for looking. I did this as well with little in the way of results. That's why I'm undertaking this project... to identify the characteristics of the various substances so others can better ID their beads (or whatever).
The answer to a Trivia question (probably the original edition)--what is the core of tennia balls made of--was one of these materials. I remember answering gutta percha, but Trivia had listed one of the other similar materials.
So...if you're ever asked this question while playing Trivia, answer vulcanite or ebonite.
I think you mean golf balls as tennis balls are hollow. The cores of golf balls were once composed of gutta percha, similar to vulcanite but the latex comes from a different tree. Gutta percha was then replaced by rubber. I'm not sure what is in the core now. Vulcanite as such was actually never involved.
my aunt who had ongoing dental problems as a small child in the 1900s had to wear dentures which had a gutta percha base..
