As a fashionable item, jet declined quickly during the Great Depression when the demand for manufactured goods of all kinds collapsed. It never regained its Victorian popularity and is used infrequently today.

Jet is one gem material that has been heavily replaced by look-alikes and imitations. When jet was popular, materials such as black glass and gutta-percha (a natural latex made from the sap of the getah perca plant) competed with jet for sales. These materials were less expensive and easily formed into beads and other shapes.

Today, modern materials, including plastic, vulcanite, glass, and black cubic zirconia compete with jet for market share. Price, availability, and ease of mass production give these materials a competitive edge.

It is possible that the world does not have enough jet to supply all of these uses. Glass, plastic, and cubic zirconia substitutes for jet are regularly marketed as “jet black” in color. Even though jet as a material is rarely used today, its name persists in the marketplace – and some people still want the real thing.

Jet beads: Faceted beads made of Whitby Jet. The beads range between 10 and 11 millimeters in diameter. Their faceted surfaces show striations from manufacturing.