Hair Comb

India Rubber Comb Company

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This hair-comb is made of vulcanite (India rubber that has been treated with sulfur), and features an applied border in the shape of a seven-link chain atop a six-tooth comb. The back of the piece is marked "I.R. COMB CO GOODYEAR 1851." The process of vulcanizing rubber was discovered by Charles Goodyear and patented in 1844. By the 1850s vulcanite had become a popular substitute for more expensive materials such as tortoiseshell or jet and was frequently used by American jewelers and accessory makers.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art