Vintage Bakelite Weather Station

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About M e ! Vintage Bakelite Weather Station This is a Vintage Bakelite Taylor Instruments "Stormoguide". Any serious collector will be proud to add this piece to their collection. ~Tests 100% positive for Bakelite~ ~All functions working~ ~It is in very good condition~ ~No Cracks or Chips~ ~8"X5"X2"~ In 1909, in Yonkers, New York, a Belgian-born chemist named Leo Baekeland accidentally produced the first completely man-made plastic. When cured, it could not be softened again with heat or solvents. Irrevocably hardened, it was warm to the touch, odor-less, non-flammable, moisture resistant, and it could be polished to a gem-like luster. Named for its inventor, Bakelite was a phenolic resin with "a thousand uses." At first, it found employment in electrical insulation and in heat-resistant radio cases and in telephone and auto parts. Though initially produced in a limited spectrum of colors (red, green, yellow, maroon, brown, and black), Bakelite quickly expanded into limitless decorative uses: cutlery handles, kitchenware, smoking articles, desk and vanity sets, poker chips, chess pieces, billiard balls, clock cases, umbrella handles and, of course, costume jewelry. In the early thirties, the Catalin Corporation developed a new phenolic resin that took the plastics industry by storm with its potential for more than 200 opaque, marbleized, translucent, and transparent colors. Another beauty of cast phenolic was how readily it could be worked. Like metal and wood, this material could be sawed, sliced, threaded, ground, drilled, and sanded, as well as carved into intricate shapes and polished to the smoothness of glass. It was so easily workable that it became extremely popular with amateur craftsmen. Inventive commercial designers and manufacturers of buttons, buckles, brooches, and bracelets bought rods, tubes, and sheets of Bakelite from the manufacturer and let their imaginations run wild. It just so happened that all this creativity coincided with the beginning of The Great Depression, for another significant quality of Bakelite was its cheapness to produce. When the real item was financially out of the question for many fashionable folk, this colorful lustrous substitute was just the right thing to help you "pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again." This fabulous new material was directly responsible for an exciting fashion trend that began, spread like wildfire, and died away all within a few short years - between 1933 and 1941. Taken from "The Bakelite Jewelry Book" by Corinne Davidov and Ginny Redington Dawes Returns and Refunds All Sales Are Final. We take great care to provide quality photographs from multiple angles and to give accurate detailed descriptions of all of our items. Please Ask Questions during the bidding process. If our item description or photographs do not answer all of your questions, please e-mail us and we will reply in a timely manner. Please make certain that you know exactly what you are bidding on. Returns will only be authorized if it is determined that your item was in some way misrepresented. Packaging and Handling Fees We are extremly meticulous in our packing and handling of every item that is shipped. We charge a packaging fee to cover the expense of proper boxes and packing materials. Please be aware of this fee which varies from item to item and is based on size, value and weight. Insurance *We can not and will not be be responsible for loss in transit or damage to a "used" item once it has been shipped. *Upon mailing the item, it becomes the responsibility of the buyer to pursue any claims of loss or damage with the shipping service. Shipping *Shipping is provided by USPS. *Buyer is responsible for insurance. If you purchase multiple items from us, we will be happy to combine shipping. Your purchase will be carefully packed for shipment to assure the item arrives to you undamaged. Can you ship outside of the United States? We ship to... read more

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