Early and Vintage Plastic
About the Collection
This collection features a selection of early plastic artifacts that document the history of one of the most commonly used materials in the world. Our collection currently dates as far back as the 1920s and will feature pieces up until the mid 1950s. The image to the left shows some of the pieces in the collection. The image below shows some of the first pieces of early plastic that the museum acquired.
This is a small vintage marbled plastic box. It's from right around the 1940s. The box is shaped like a hexagon with six marbled plastic sides. Over time, however, it has sadly warped which caused it to partially split in half. It was possibly used by a woman to store makeup as it was found in a small collection of early plastic artifacts with similar purposes.
This is a vintage plastic shoe horn from the 1930s. It is possibly made out of celluloid, a type of plastic made from nitrocellulose and camphor. Celluloid was also used to make cinematographic film, which is used in movies. The shoe horn was probably originally colored orange and a white, or a light cream, but has yellowed over time. The piece is very fragile as over time plastic becomes brittle.
This is a piece of Du Barry Ivory Pyralin from the 1920s or 1930s. Ivory Pyralin is not actually ivory but a type of celluloid plastic. The Arlington Company of New Jersey first began making Ivory Pyralin but in 1917 the company was bought out by DuPont who would continue to manufacture Ivory Pyralin products. This would have originally been part of a vanity set and was used for women's makeup.
This is a small vintage makeup container probably from the 1930s. This was probably part of a vanity set like the piece of Ivory Pyralin mentioned previously. The manufacturer is unknown because there is no known manufacturer's mark. It was probably made of a similar plastic like the Ivory Pyralin piece which was made of celluloid. It should also be mentioned that it has a similar design to the previously mentioned piece. It was probably used to store some sort of makeup cream.
This is a 1940s plastic handheld mirror. The mirror its self is mounted in a faux tortoise shell plastic frame.
