Jakob bengel museum

Jakob bengel bracelet
Founded by locksmith, Jakob Bengel in 1873, in Idar-Oberstein, Germany the factory specialised in chatelaines and watch chains.
Jakob Bengel as a prominent German jewellery manufacturer liberated Oberstein from the stigma of being the 'underdog' of the jewellery industry in Germany.

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The necklaces of Jakob Bengel

We recently acquired a lot of Art Deco necklaces from a long closed store in Jablonec nad Nisou (formerly known as Gablonz). Unusually for old Gablonz jewelry, they are mainly made of galalith plastic beads and chrome plated chains and clasps. This led us to dig a little deeper into their origins.

This is where we stumbled across a relatively recently discovered jewelry designer called Jakob Bengel. Bengel jewelry started to appear on the European market in the 1980's but it was not until 1993 when a sample book was uncovered showing the origin of this jewelry as from the Jakob Bengel company of Oberstein/Nahe in Germany. Previously it was thought to be of French origin. Further investigation revealed that in 1978, the Jakob Bengel company sold its sample collections; hence why articles were appearing on the open market.

Jakob Bengel was a chain and costume jewelry factory, founded by Jakob Bengel in 1873 in Idar -Oberstein, Germany. Until 1920, the company specialized in the productio

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The industrial monument

The Jakob Bengel industrial monument is a living, hands-on museum. Experience a journey back in time to the height of industrialisation and the history of the Idar-Oberstein costume jewellery and metal goods industry.

The Jakob Bengel chain and jewellery factory is a unique example of industrial history in Rhineland-Palatinate. The ensemble of residential and factory buildings has been recognised as a regional cultural heritage site since 2005 and, in its economic and socio-historical significance, bears witness to Idar-Oberstein's once outstanding position in the production of costume jewellery. In the heyday of the jewellery and metalware industry, around 5,000 people were employed in the Oberstein district, including home workers. Today - after just over a generation - this branch of industry has almost completely disappeared.

In the historic production rooms of the industrial monument, visitors can experience the heyday of the company's costume jewellery production from 1870 to 1990.

The original ensemble of buildings, consi

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Jakob Bengel, Oberstein: From Art Industry to Jewellery Design

With Jakob Bengel, Oberstein: From the Art Industry to Jewellery Design, the industrial monument Historische Uhrketten und Bijouteriewarenfabrik Jakob Bengel in Idar-Oberstein, together with the Jakob Bengel Foundation, is marking the factory’s 150-year anniversary and with it presenting hitherto unpublished material. Large-format illustrations present highlights from the collection of Drs Margarete and Heribert Händel as well as previously unseen Bengel jewellery and contemporary design drawings – evidence indeed of the exceptional quality of work produced within the reform ideas of the Deutscher Werkbund, the German art and crafts schools and the Bauhaus.

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The discovery in the early 2000s of the Idar-Oberstein company Jakob Bengel as a prominent German jewellery manufacturer liberated Oberstein from the stigma of being the ‘underdog’ of the jewellery industry in Germany. In establishing the Jakob Bengel Sti