Do You Remember Bakelite?

I'd say it's a lot like stamp collecting. Sure, everything is collectible. Whether or not everything is of value or not is another story. There are numerous web sites that can guide you on the collectible aspects of the product. Their bottom line is collect what you like; you then have the gratification to know that you have found a product that you own that pleases you and as the product becomes scarcer to find, you then will possibly have a collectible that could be worth something.

Still sounds a bit like stamp collecting, doesn't it?

Now that does bring back some great remmeraries.

Back when I was in single numbers I was shown the mysteries
of KGV watermarks with a bakelite ash tray and lighter fluid.
My eyes were bigger than dinner plates, it was a very special day.

Oh how much I still miss that mentor, my only one.
His name was Brian, a name I will never forget.

Even our phones were made out of the stuff! KGV

I recall that too. My parents were both cigarette smokers.

It is really surprising this product resonates with
so many people.
It is very much like stamp collecting, with a deeper
knowledge. Products can fetch some amazing prices.
Our Aussie "collectors" tv program sometimes
focuses on early art deco plastics fashion,
and some of the pieces are extremely valuable.

If you live near Somerset, it would be worth a visit to
the Bakelite museum.

What about old brownie camera's from Kodak

Us young'uns might not know to pronounce it BAYkul-ite if we'd only seen it in print. (I spent a few years thinking it was bake - light.)

whaddaya mean OLD brownie cameras!

I own an old multi-meter that has a case made of bakelite. It's the only thing I can recall ever owning made with the stuff. When was it replaced with better plastics?

Hey! yeah. good one
most of the products I recall had lovely curved flowing
edges, not much angular stuff,
probably because it may have chipped easily.

Out of use circa 1945 due to high prod costs

wiki
Bakelite was used widely from the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s for jewelry. Huge quantities of beads, bangles and earrings were produced by the Catalin Company which introduced 15 new colours in 1927, and created marbled and translucent plastics. The jewelry of this era is now highly collectable. It was no longer made after the second world war due to expensive production costs. Jewelry boxes, desk sets, clocks, radios, kitchenware such as canisters and tableware were also made of Bakelite during the 1930s.

Yes, rod222 that nice brown bakelite square sheet used to be always there behind a size D battery, because batteries then were expected to leak and the bakelite prevents the acid from reaching the metal case simply because cases made of plastic havent arrived yet

and the Bic orange ballpen, the cars that usually rusted within 2years and one year if you happen to live near the beach, the 78, 45 and 33 rpm vinyl records, the black and white tv

and of course, if anybody ever said, one can contact another person halfway around the world, in real time, by phone, video or typng a messsage, just by using a typwriter and a tv, they would laugh the whole day

those were very good days, and today its even better!

thanks for sharing the philanite

Precisely during the height of the Art Deco movement -- hence the curves and rounded designs. And the colors -- blues, pinks, and greens unlike those before.

KirkS

In addition to stamps, I also collect old tube radios. A good amjority of the table top radios are made from bakelite. The smell off the radio can be pretty bad once the radio really heats up, I think its because of the oil they used in making it but, I may be wrong on the oil.

If I'm not mistaken, didn't some of the Soviet bloc nations (especially East Germany) continue using Bakelite way past the
time it was used in the west? I know that I've seen plates and cups, as well as stocks and magazines for AK-47s made of the stuff.

The Baby Brownie. Ugly but very functional.

That's very very nice. Isn't there a society of collectors of things like this?