{"id":267,"date":"2016-03-25T09:54:55","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T15:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/?p=267"},"modified":"2016-09-01T08:47:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T14:47:11","slug":"16-photos-of-vintage-bakelite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/16-photos-of-vintage-bakelite","title":{"rendered":"16 Photos of Vintage Bakelite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like all things retro, Bakelite is making a comeback in a big way, and we\u2019ve been seeing a lot of it at estate sales lately.
\nBakelite is the world\u2019s first synthetic plastic and was invented by Leo Baekeland in 1907, who called it “a non-melting, non-dissolving solid like nothing found in nature<\/a>.” The scientific name is ispolyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride<\/strong>.\u00a0Lucky for us, the name\u00a0“Bakelite” (pronounced “bake-light”) is a lot less of a mouthful!<\/p>\n

Part of Bakelite\u2019s popularity is due to its smooth shiny texture and bright colors – it’s “young, fun, and unselfconsciously stylish.<\/a>\u201d Bakelite is also easy to work with since it\u2019s easily moldable, production scalable, and the final product retains its original shape without scratching or bending. Because it\u2019s cheap to produce, it was used in many products during the midcentury, like machine guns, saxophone mouth pieces, poker chips, kitchenware, buttons, and cameras, before it was eventually replaced with better, cheaper plastics.<\/p>\n

While Bakelite wasn\u2019t viewed as ground-breaking back in the day, like everything midcentury modern<\/a>, it\u00a0has become highly collectible. So keep an eye out at estate sales and buyer beware of fakes<\/a>!<\/p>\n

1. Bakelite Bangles<\/h2>\n
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A photo posted by ? ? (@heavenly_bakelite)<\/a> on