Scandal & the Story of Bakelite

Bakelite hit the market in 1907, heralding the arrival of the modern plastics industry. Bakelite was the first completely man made plastic, as until then, plastics such as celluloid, casein, and Gutta-Percha all had as a base a natural material. It was developed by Belgian-born chemist Dr. Leo Hendrick Baekeland who started his firm General Bakelite Company to produce the phenolic resin type plastic. Bakelite was inexpensive to manufacture and extremely durable, and made its inventor a wealthy man. In subsequent generations, however, the Baekeland’s family story was one of tragedy rather than triumph. In 1972 the schizophrenic great grandson of Dr. Baekeland stabbed his mother to death. Savage Grace, by Natalie Robbins and Steven M.L. Aronson, a book about the family and the murder, was a best seller when it was published in 1985.

Bakelite for Appliances & Jewelry

Early Bakelite was used almost exclusively in the manufacture of radios, appliances and electrical components because it was lightweight, inexpensive, durable, moisture-resistant and non-flammable. The limited color range of black, brown, and the occasional burgundy and dark green was appropriate for use as radio cabinets, vacuum cleaner parts, and electrical elements, but eventually, formulas were developed to produce the plastic in a range of appealing colors. Its ability to be carved and molded made it ideal for inexpensive jewelry. Early jewelry attempts to mimic more expensive materials like ivory amber, onyx, and jade, but by the 1930s, consumers began to appreciate the plastic for own qualities and Bakelite jewelry made its appearance everywhere from Sears Roebuck to Sacks 5th Avenue.

Colorful Art Deco Bakelite Gems

Artists and designers discovered the beauty and workability of Bakelite (and Catalin, a competitor who also produced a phenolic resin plastic). New technology created additional colors, and the plastic became available in scarlet, green, amber, brown burgundy, red-orange, and Kelly green and black and marbled. By 1934, yet another plastics company had produced a formula for Bakelite in pastel colors including willow green, light blue, pink and yellow. Due to the unstable nature of the chemicals used in the pastel colors formula, these pieces are hard to find, and as such, are among the most costly of Bakelite jewelry.

Bakelite Jewelry & Values

Bakelite could be molded, carved, or laminated, and designers and turned to the material for brightly colored, inexpensive flights of fancy to adorn everything from wrists to waists. Necklaces featured beads in a variety of sizes and colors, sometimes terminating in carved or laminated pendants. A popular choker style necklace consisted of pairs of bright red cherries on celluloid stems and leaves dangling from a celluloid chain (today $150-300.)

Bakelite Bracelets

Bracelets were stretchy, cuff, charm, wrap or tank-track styles. Stretchy bracelets consisted of beads or lozenges strung on elastic. Cuff styles could be wide and deeply carved, or narrower bands intended to be stacked together. The band could be smooth, molded (usually in a geometric pattern), carved, or pierced. Wrap bracelets were beads strung on wire, and tank-track bracelets featured overlapping semi-circular links. A quick check on eBay turned up bracelets on offer in prices ranging from $50-300. Deeply carved, wide red cuffs seem to fetch the highest prices, followed by amber, then green.

Bakelite Pins

A variety of pins were produced, either whimsical figurals or geometrics. The Art Deco love affair with the Scottie Dog was evident in the jewelry on offer. Horses also had a strong presence, but pins of elephants, penguins, marlins, and cherries are also available. Pins range in price from $118 for a lovely carved leaf, $130 for a carrot, $102 for a red horse head, and an almost shockingly low $18 for a classic Scottie in red.

Bakelite Jewelry Affordable (Again)!

Prices reached almost ludicrous levels in the early 1990s, and the jewelry became so popular that other Bakelite pieces such as poker chips, Tootsie Toys and Mah Jong tiles were frequently fashioned into jewelry. The market seems to have cooled, meaning that it’s once again possible to buy a fine Bakelite cuff bracelet for less than a gold one.

Reference note by p4A Contributing Editor Susan Cramer, August, 2011

Bakelite

Bakelite is named after its inventor, Belgian-born chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944). After emigrating to the United States in 1889, Baekeland dabbled in photography. In the late nineteenth century, photographic paper was so insensitive to light that prints had to be exposed outdoors in sunlight. Baekeland invented a more sensitive paper that he called Velox. He sold the rights to George Eastman in 1899 for a million dollars.

Now independently wealthy, Baekeland bought a farm near Yonkers, New York and set up a laboratory in the barn. He wanted to develop an insulating coating for copper wire, the kind of wire used to wind solenoids and motors. In those days wire was coated with shellac, which was laboriously made from the shells of the lacca beetle that inhabited southeast Asia. Shellac was expensive and in short supply. Could Baekeland develop a synthetic substitute?

In 1907, he prepared a mixture of phenol, formaldehyde and lye which had the color and the consistency of honey. Unexpectedly, the mixture hardened in its container, producing a solid whose surface faithfully duplicated the shape and the texture of its container.

It occurred to Baekeland that his mixture could be heated in molds to create objects of any desired shape. Thus was born Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic. Baekeland founded The Bakelite Corporation to manufacture his material.

Bakelite is known by several generic names. It is referred to as phenolic because phenol (C6H5OH) is the main ingredient. Phenol is the preservative that is responsible for the “mediciney” smell of preschoolers’ paste and is the “mediciney” ingredient in antiseptic mouthwash.

It is also known as thermosetting because the chemical reaction that creates the solid actually occurs while the molding compound is being heated in the mold. Once the solid object has been formed, it cannot be softened again, unlike thermoplastics such as polystyrene that can be melted and re-used. This property makes thermosets useful for objects that might become warm, such as housings for electrical devices or even handles for kitchen pots and pans.

A Manning-Bowman coffee pot with bakelite handle, base and spigot handle. (p4A item # D9810832)

Baekeland’s competitors also made thermosets, and the word “bakelite” (small b) became a generic term denoting phenolic from any manufacturer. To further complicate things, The Bakelite Corporation later became a distributor of polystyrene, which was sold under the trade name Bakelite.

The original lump of Bakelite was a transparent amber-colored solid whose appearance Baekeland described as “frozen beer”. A few products were actually molded that color, notably ladies’ combs that were meant to simulate hand-carved tortoise shell.

Most Bakelite was made with additives that altered its appearance or mechanical properties.

Flock (short cotton threads) was often mixed with molding compound so that the threads would become embedded in the finished product. The fibers improved Bakelite’s mechanical strength, much as steel reinforcing rods strengthen concrete.

The most common appearance for a Bakelite object was opaque black, which was produced by incorporating carbon black into the molding compound. The ubiquitous black rotary-dial telephone was manufactured of black Bakelite.

A Henry Dreyfuss bakelite telephone. (p4A item # B126428)

A bakelite “bow tie” pattern bangle bracelet. (p4A item # D9769092)

Bakelite’s popularity began to decline in the 1940s as thermoplastics became more readily available. The first major thermoplastic was cellulose acetate, which was made from a byproduct of the cotton gin. Intricately-shaped objects can be fabricated by injection molding. Molten plastic is forced into a mold under high pressure, where it cools and solidifies. Since cellulose acetate was derived from an agricultural product, supply could not keep pace with the growth of demand. After World War II, polystyrene (made from petroleum) quickly became the most popular thermoplastic.

The days of manufacturing collectible jewelry from Bakelite are over, but phenolics continue to be used for applications where heat resistance is required, such as electrical equipment or cookware.

Reference note by p4A Contributing Editor Joseph H. Lechner, Ph.D.

The tradition of bringing a tree into the home and decorating it was first criticized by the prophet Jeremiah. Oliver Cromwell later preached again the “heathen tradition,” but of course, we know how things turned out for him…. Later, Christmas trees were criticized for different reasons – environmental ones! It’s a little hard to imagine now, but in the early 20th century, railroads and other changes in industry had resulted in rapid deforestation, thereby opening the door for artificial trees.

The first artificial trees produced for the mass market were feather trees, and they are still very collectible. Feather trees are just that – trees made of feathers. Goose feathers, with one half stripped away, were dyed and then wound around small sticks or wires. After being bound off with wire, these “branches” were fitted in holes drilled in a central wooden dowel that acted as the trunk. They were mostly sold in white or shades of green, but were also available in more exotic colors like blue. As they evolved, some came with small berries (that cleverly served the dual purpose of providing a solution to the tricky wrapping at the end of the branch), while smaller versions appear in the hands and packs of Santa figurines. Fancy versions often had musical rotating bases. After that, the mass market machine kicked into drive, and aluminum, PVC and fiber optic trees couldn’t be far behind!

Often said to be the first manufactured Christmas ornaments, kugels became popular in Germany around 1850 when silvered glass was invented. Translated from the German, kugel means ball or sphere – its most common form – but they also were made in the form of grape bunches, and teardrops, with hand-blown eggs, pears and apples more rarely found. Rarest of all are mold blown kugels resembling pine cones, artichokes and berry clusters. In all examples the silvered glass is heavier and more sturdy than similarly sized modern blown glass ornaments, a characteristic that has enabled them to survive many a hectic Christmas season.

The most common kugel is the silvered ball, which is actually clear glass with silvered interior to reflect light back into the room. Other kugels had a colored exterior, the most common being gold, a yellowish-green, blue and pinkish red. Other colors are found less frequently and include light blue, dark green and a copper bronze. Any reddish color is rare and highly sought after, including deep red, burgundy, orange, and – rarest of all – amethyst.

Kugels were made in a variety of sizes ranging from small half-inch orbs to giant fourteen inch globes. The manufacture of Kugels was a significant business, with German glassmakers exporting them to anywhere on the globe where Christmas was celebrated until World War II brought their production to a close. Kugels remain a favorite, however, of collectors and are prized decorative features of today’s traditional Christmas trees.

Background note by p4A editorial staff, 2012.

Catafalque comes from the Italian word catafalco, which means scaffolding. It is the term used for a bier or platform that supports a coffin, and catafalques are often, although not always, moveable. In the United States, the most iconic example of a catafalque is the Lincoln Catafalque, which was created for Lincoln’s funeral in 1865. This pine platform covered with black cloth remains in the Exhibition Hall at the U.S. Capitol’s visitor center, but has been called into service regularly (with new cloth and some additional supports) since 1865 for all those who have lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda. Lincoln’s funeral train traveled back to Springfield, Illinois, stopping at a number of cities along the way, so many catafalques were no doubt built for the ceremonies held in those cities, but the one in Washington is the one created for his funeral service there.

Reference note by p4A editorial staff, 10.11

The first national flag of the United States, known as the Continental Colors, retained the Union Jack in the canton. The flag act of 1777 mandated that stars replace the British Union flag to which the act referred to as “a new constellation”. The act, however, failed to lay down a firm design as to how the stars should be arranged and manufacturers of “Old Glory” incorporated their own placement of the stars.

Further Recommended Reading

The Stars and the Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present

A Grand Old Flag: A History of the United States Through its Flags

John Haley Bellamy, master ship carver of Kittery Point, Maine produced some of the most outstanding decorative carving for ships and buildings during the last half of the 19th century. Bellamy was best known from his carved eagles which were characterized by concave wings, a deep cut eye and accentuated beak. He used a minimum of carving to achieve a masterful effect of clean simplicity. In addition to eagles, Bellamy carved animals, buildings, chairs, clocks, shelves, ship figureheads & sternboards and signs.

James Montgomery Flagg, born in Pelham Manor, New York in 1877, is one of those interesting figures in history who actually did so much, but is only remembered for one thing! Flagg was a gifted artist, displaying a prodigy’s talent; he created his first magazine illustration at age 12, and by the age of 14, he had become a regular contributor to Life. He actively pursued training for his talents – although he later claimed that he learned far more from the work of other artists – studying at the Art Students League in New York and taking the requisite time to travel abroad, studying art in Paris and London.

An autographed photo of James Montgomery Flagg at work. (p4A item # C240992)

Upon returning to the United States, he became a prolific illustrator, preferring to work in pen-and-ink sketches and supplying work for everything from books to political cartoons to advertisements. In the early 1900s, he illustrated a number of books, including Yankee Girls Abroad, An Orchard Princess, and Simon The Jester. His career as an illustrator in the heyday of magazines led to illustrations in a number of prominent publications including Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, and Saturday Evening Post.

An James Montgomery Flagg advertisement for Cream of Wheat. (p4A item # D9852046)

He was a founding member of the Dutch Treat Club, a social club of illustrators, writers and actors. (Legend has it that the club formed organically in 1906 in the waiting rooms of Life offices, where artists waited each Tuesday morning to have their submissions reviewed.) Flagg was also a member of the Artists and Writers Club, writing and acting in silent films, a talent that led to his work on promotional films for the Marines and the Red Cross.

It was through this association that James Montgomery Flagg came to create his best-known work: the 1917 World War I Uncle Sam poster. This poster, similar to a pose adopted by Lord Kitchener in a British recruitment poster, was one of 46 he created for the war effort, and it’s estimated that 4 million of the Uncle Sam posters were printed. Flagg later said that to avoid the scheduling of a model, he created a self-portrait that he simply aged with the addition of wrinkles and the white beard.

The classic “Uncle Sam Wants You” World War I poster by James Montgomery Flagg. (p4A item # B157825 )

Hollie Davis, p4A Senior Editor, with additional research provided by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Montgomery_Flagg and the National Museum of American Illustration’s site http://www.americanillustration.org/html/jmf/bio.html