The Brooklyn, NY-based Jos. H. Meyer Bros. manufactured plastic faux-pearl beads. Meter Bros. extruded rods, ground the beads, and sold them under their brand name Richelieu.

According to The Jewerly Patent Project a patent for plastic jewelry made of lucite was granted to Maximilian C Meyer, president of Joseph H Meyer Brothers on May 6, 1941. The patent was for a process to manufacture beads with the effects of simulated moonstone, cat's eye, star sapphire and similar effects, and declares that these types of jewelry are among the leading costume jewelry items. It mentions that Coro, Inc. has also been making and selling necklaces of the lucite material and that they may challenge the patent. Both companies purchased lucite from the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company, Inc (DuPont). A DuPont representative says that they do provide the Lucite and operate under a patent of the Meyer organization acquired 14 years prior covering the incorporation of faceted pigment into plastic material.

See:

“Beads by the Billions,” Modern Plastics (April 1950), 100-101, 200.

The Jewelry Patent Project