Bakelite Johnny's is the Vintage Plastic Jewelry division of AJ Raefields. AJ Raefields is an internet company devoted entirely to the sale of vintage and new costume jewelry. We started in 2001 under eBay id raefielddesigns( 15690) and grew to be one of eBay's largest vintage estate jewelry dealers. We are a company of young women, engaged in the enterprise of selling jewelry and learning business and e-commerce.

By 2006 our original eBay store grew to epic proportions sporting more then 12,000 items! At that time we came to the conclusion that MAYBE we ought to consider breaking out into more than one store.. 400 pages was a little much for a customer to absorb! In February of 2006 we opened bakelitejohnny( 916). Bakelite Johnny's carries vintage plastic jewelry ranging from hard plastics to Bakelite. Bakelite Johnny himself was the brainstorm of owner Tracy Janik and Graphics & Photography Coordinator Amanda Briggaman. Amanda actually created him, but the two spend days deciding what he should be like. The name Bakelite Johnny is actually for Tracy's husband John! This was supposed to be "his" store, but he bailed on us as soon as he saw "Johnny," lol.

Bakelite Johnny - Who is he? OK, since you asked... It took 3 days for Amanda and Tracy to decide if Johnny should have Johnny Depp's head or Brad Pitt's head.. We choose.. Brad Pitt! (He does also bear a striking resemblance to Tracy's husband John). So, we have Brad Pitts head, The Boy Wonder's mask, Plastic Man's body, Elvis's pants, Elton John's shirt, and of course.. his trademark BLINGIN "BJ" pendant!

We are constantly searching for new and exciting places to shop for vintage costume jewelry. Many of the wholesalers that we visit have their entire basements filled with jewelry from overstock from as early as the 1940's! Before computer systems, wholesalers had to keep tons of extra pieces on hand in case they ran out of a particular style...fortunately for us, they didn't! We also visit large warehouses filled with vintage inventory and other goodies. Our estate items come from our constant tours of flea markets, auctions, and antique shops as well as our efforts to buy out estate lots either direct or through a network of dealers we have developed a relationship with. We have a lot of fun shopping for jewelry to sell to you, but the best part of it is being able to work together as a group!

Jewelry is no longer our only passion as a company. Now we are focusing on marketing, and the basics of running a business. Everyone is taught a new program or new procedure every day, in hopes that each employee will acquire a mass amount of knowledge which will help them in the future. The reason why we employ young people is so that we can teach them useful skills which will help them to eventually get a great job. Another way we work together is through Ebay Giving Works. We hand pick each charity that we donate to, and we do a lot of research to find organizations that need our help the most, as well as ones that we can identify with. We believe that through teaching each other, as well as helping those in need, together as a company we can grow and become a great powerful business. We are constantly learning new things, and are always working to improve ourselves and to grow together.

We've grown immensely over the past couple of years! It all began with raefielddesigns( 15690), our huge vintage estate jewelry shop. Our 1st branch of was bakelitejohnny( 916).. This store specializes in vintage plastics including: Bakelite, Hard Plastic, Lucite, Celluloid, and all other types of vintage plastic jewelry. In December 2006, we opened 247jewelry( 2506) this store was meant to sell "new" jewelry but found it's own unique genre with a mix of vintage unsold inventory and new jewelry. This store winds up to be a dichotomy, who are we to fight with what works here. 247 is classics and kooks! In this store you will find fun novelty jewelry (like pet rock necklaces), initial jewelry, name jewelry, zodiac jewelry, mens fraternal rings, mens military rings, new BOHO jewelry, 1980s classic gold jewelry, holiday pins, and more. Because this store was so large (we are still working on making it smaller), we decided the new jewelry was lost in it. So we embarked on our most recent endeavor, bffjewelry( 63), which is meant to sell new fashion jewelry. In this store we sell new jewelry by the piece as we always, BUT we have added a new twist in it! We have new jewelry in sets; one for you to keep, and one for you to share with your BFF! This allows you more fun, and a better per piece price, as well as a much better shipping price.

We also have off eBay presences: www.ajraefields.com which specializes in vintage estate jewelry, and information on vintage jewelry. This site happily sponsors the Vintage Fashion Costume Jewelry Club's home page www.vfcj.org. This site is just about to undergo some major construction, so expect a big upheaval there in the near future! We also have our www.ajraefieldsblog.com which has all sorts of jewelry information, including jewelry tips, jewelry fashion trends, and vintage jewelry archives, jewelry articles, jewelry questions and jewelry speculation. Have fun visiting all the sites in our jewelry empire!