Here's an unusual hobby ......... collecting early plastics. The items are usually inexpensive to buy, and many interesting pieces can be found at any weekend antiques fair. You may think it strange, but try it. Pick up an article made from 'Bakelite' and take a closer look, (more than the usual 'dismisive glance'). You will find that it can have a quite beautiful mottled finish, and a heavier, more brittle feel to it. Quite unlike modern day plastics. Altogether more 'tactile'.We tend to focus our collecting on two early types of plastic; Phenol Formaldehyde (also known as Phenolic - better known by it's Tradename 'Bakelite') and Urea Formaldehyde, the improved version that came in brighter colours, but still gets mistakenly called 'Bakelite'.Take a look at some of the bits and pieces we have collected, that were everyday items in the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's:-

Blue 'Phenolic'Black 'Phenolic'Green 'Phenolic'
Brown 'Phenolic'Red 'Phenolic'
Yellow and Orange 'Urea'Ivory 'Urea'Green 'Urea'

Phenol Formaldehyde (or Phenolic) was the first completely man-made thermosetting plastic, and is far better known by it's tradename 'Bakelite'. Phenolic resin was discovered in 1907 by Leo Baekeland, a Belgian scientist working in America. True 'Bakelite', or phenolic mouldings, are always limited to black, and dark shades of brown, green, red and the rarer blue.

Urea Formaldehyde , an improved version of Phenolic, was developed by a company called British Cyanides in 1925. It was marketed under the name of 'Beetle' or 'Beetleware' and became very popular. With Urea Formaldehyde it was possible to create bright colours and more decorative patterns. From this moment on (early 1930's) 'poly' plastics were being created. Polythene and polyester in 1933, polyurethane and PVC in 1937. These are the plastics that we are familiar with today.

Click on any of the colour-grouped Bakelite or 'Urea' items in the graphic above, to see more detailed photographs.


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