FACT
Phenolic formaldehyde resin (for our purposes “Bakelite”) has an oxidation reaction to air which causes the piece to change in color and develop a “patina”. Evidence of this oxidation reaction can be seen with chemical testing.

It is impossible to tell conclusively what type of plastic something is without destroying the piece and determining the chemical compound. You can never be truly positive without that chemical test. What is left is to use your best judgment to evaluate an item. As a dealer, I am careful to always indicate why I believe an item to be Bakelite. There are false positives with the chemical tests which if taken at face value may lead to misidentification.

TESTING
An item needs to pass a number of tests to be relatively sure it is an authentic vintage Bakelite piece.

1. Provenance – Where did the item come from? An estate? If you are wandering around Brimfield and you see 3 or 4 of the same Bakelite bracelets at 10 or more dealer’s tents, you know something is wrong.
2. Hot Water Test – A piece of Bakelite would have to be really embedded deep in some other substance to not pass the hot water test. Running the item under hot water should produce a unique formaldehyde type odor. Passing this test is a must. Because of differences in formulas, each piece of bakelite may have a slightly different odor. If you have no odor, it is not Bakelite.
3. Weight – A piece of Bakelite should be heavy relative to a similar piece of Lucite or other plastic
4. Noise – Two pieces of bakelite knocked together should produce a distinctive “Thunk”
5. Surface Texture – Bakelite tends to have a unique texture not as smooth as other plastics.

6. Chemical Testing – There are really four types of chemical tests: Simichrome, 409, Scrubbing Bubbles, and Bakelite test solutions. You take a Q-tip and a ttiny amount of one of these products and rub it on the piece in a small unobtrusive area.
In some cases you will need to rub the Q-tip hard

8. Hand Finishing – Bakelite was hand carved and hand finished. Evidence of hand carving as well as polish and sanding marks, is a good indicator you have a piece of Bakelite. The cut marks on the bracelet below are a great example.

BAKELITE THAT DOES NOT TEST

There are a few reasons why a piece of Bakelite may not test positive as Bakelite with chemical testing.

1. The piece is coated with a clear or colored finish. The actual Bakelite itself is not exposed to air and there is no reaction to pick up, or because of the thickness of the coating you may not be able to actually access the Bakelite to test it properly.

2. The piece has been tested so much that the “patina” of oxidation has been removed.

3. The piece is new (Fakelite) or a reworked Artist piece (such as a Shultz). The oxidation reaction occurs over time. If you have a newly reworked piece of Bakelite it may take over a year of air exposure for the item to test positive chemically.

4. The piece has been polished with a Simichrome type polish and the oxidation has been removed or completely coated.

5. It is NOT Bakelite.

In the case of black Bakelite much of it does not test positive because it is coated with a resin or epoxy type finish. This is actually common. Much of what is being sold today as Black Bakelite is Bakelite which does not test positive because of a finish coating. A prime example of one of these finishes is when you have a piece of Bakelite which tests positive with hot water and chemically produces a black stain. These pieces with black finish are so prevalent that the surface texture we often associate being that of black Bakelite is actually a resin finish.

In true Mythbusters tradition we spent some time collecting pieces of black Bakelite which we thought had this resin type coating and would not test positive, as well as pieces we felt would test positive. We spent a lot of time evaluating these items according to our criteria, testing, scratching, and cutting. You would be amazed at what we found. Just because it looks like Bakelite and feels like Bakelite does not make it so when you get home!

FICTION – THE IMPOSTERS!


Fig. 1

Despite the deep carving and bakelite look of these pieces, these are NOT Bakelite. The floral items (Fig. 1 & 2) chemically test with a black stain indicative of the black coating they have. They are both set with older findings which are screwed in and not glued. They are both obviously circa 1930 and are from estates. Neither is quite the right weight for Bakelite and neither passes the hot water test.

The bangle bracelet (Fig. 3) shows no reaction chemically, it has a
very heavy clear finish on it, so even if it was Bakelite it would not test. The bracelet is VERY heavy. It really has the right weight, but does not pass the hot water test. It is in pristine condition. There is not a scratch or blemish to the glossy coating. It is most likely a contemporary piece. My guess would be fakelite or just a really nice carved plastic. The black and red cuff (Fig. 4) is a beauty. This is an old piece and tests black chemically, but fails hot water. It is a fabulous bracelet, but not Bakelite.

Fig 3. Fig. 4

BLACK BAKELITE - MYTHBUSTERS

These cameos are prime examples of black Bakelite which have a coating and do not test positive with chemical testing. They prove our legend. These portraits are a Celluloid type plastic and are mounted to Bakelite backgrounds. More often then not, these backgrounds are an example of a coated piece which will test black when tested chemically rather then yellow. These pieces pass the hot water test do not have glued findings and are Bakelite.

We had some fun scratching and cutting these things apart. This was the best way to identify a piece of real Bakelite. You certainly cannot miss the odor when you cut into one. (Each of these pieces tested black chemically indicating a black coating was used). As you can see we found all sorts of things inside!

These all had the colored finish, but inside we found many different things varying from Bakelite to other plastics. Some of the coatings are covering other colors, some are just a replacement for hand polishing. It is truly amazing how resilient these finishes are. The finish will take some scratching, so its use is not obvious. You will find the occasional piece where the black finish is damaged. In most cases this is an example of the finish on another type of plastic. It seems to have adhered very well to bakelite.

These finishes were used to keep down costs and to use existing inventory to fill other orders. It is much cheaper to apply a coating then it is to hand polish to achive the same finish. Coatings such as these were sprayed or dipped. Workers were proficient at this. It is possible to have a piece which shows no dipping dimples or other evidence of coating, as we see in the black Bakelite pieces. Colored finishes were often used to fill orders with existing stock (i.e. - You have 200 red pins in stock, but the client wants black).