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Bakelite, an early form of plastic made from phenolic resin, was invented by Leo Baekeland in 1901. It was used for industrial purposes before entering the consumer market and becoming popular for its low cost. Bakelite-Catalin’s labor-intensive process led to its decline after WWII, but it remains collectible today. A hot pin test can determine authenticity.
Bakelite is another name for phenolic resin, an early form of plastic. Today, items crafted from Bakelite are considered highly collectible, although in its glory days of the 1930s and 1940s, it was seen as an affordable alternative to fine jewelry materials such as jade and pearl.
A Belgian-born chemist named Leo Baekeland used his profits from the sale of Velox, a film treatment used by newspapers, to set up an independent laboratory in Yonkers, New York around the year 1901. Dr. Baekeland spent several years to work on a durable bowling lane coating similar to today’s protective polyurethane floor sealants. He combined carbolic acid and formaldehyde to form phenolic resin. This resin would remain pourable long enough to apply to hardwood floors, but then become insoluble and waterproof after curing. Dr. Baekeland patented this early form of plastic and founded his Bakelite company around 1910 to market it to heavy industry and automobile manufacturers. Bakelite could be used for electrical insulators or as an insulating coating for automotive wiring.
After a decade of primarily industrial applications, Bakelite quickly entered the consumer market. Thomas Edison used it as the basis for his first commercial phonograph records. It was also used to form billiard balls and as decorative handles for cutlery and handheld mirrors. Bakelite could be melted down and poured into lead molds to form the shape of drinking glasses, flower vases, musical instruments, and other consumer goods. It replaced an earlier, more flammable form of plastic called celluloid.
Bakelite products weren’t often mass-produced through an injection molding process. Craftsmen who wanted to make jewelry or other decorative items ordered it in the form of cylinders or blocks. Hand tools and powered grinders would allow craftsmen to cut out individual pieces for resale. Bakelite jewelry became the rage among fashionable consumers, but its relatively low cost also made it popular with the general public during the Depression. In 1927, the original patent expired and the rights to the process were bought by a company called Catalin. Manufacturers learned to add a full range of colors to the resin, and Bakelite-Catalina continued to be popular well into the late 1940s.
Ultimately, Bakelite-Catalin’s labor-intensive process proved to be its undoing. After WWII, mass production became the buzzword of the plastics industry and this early form became a pleasant memory. Collectors today prize it for its patina and versatility. Unscrupulous traders, however, have tried to sell other plastic items as authentic Bakelite. A test for authenticity is called a hot pin test. Interested buyers should find an inconspicuous area of the item in question and apply a heated pin. Real Bakelite gives off a distinctive odor as it melts, very similar to the scent of burnt human hair. If the pin melts the item but there is no smell of formaldehyde/burnt hair, it is most likely a fake.
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