Why are BAKELITE chips so special?

[Vince Mounts]

Bakelite is something that people collect. Its an early type of plastic I
think, which is no longer made (the company went out of business).Its not so
special because its backgammon but for the fact thats its bakelite. If it
were something else ,ade from bakelit it would be "special" (read expensive)
too.

FERRANTE wrote in message <36586bd2...@news.primenet.com>...
>Recently I came across people selling Backgammon games emphasizing the
>fact they contain "Bakelite" chips. What are they and why are they so
>special?
>
>Thanks in advance for your help/explanation.
>
>Mark Ferrante
>
>
>
>
>Home of THE SHEIK
>
>http://www.primenet.com/~ferante/

[Albert Steg]

> Recently I came across people selling Backgammon games emphasizing the
> fact they contain "Bakelite" chips. What are they and why are they so
> special?

For anyone who cares about such things, bakelite has a superior aesthetic
feel than later forms of plastic (eg. Crisloid's crap product). Bakelite
was a company that developed a "thermosetting" plastic in the early years
of this century -- one that retained its shape under high temperatures.
As such it had plenty of industrial uses, but it also became popular as a
material for jewlery, (brooches, bracelets, much in demand) and various
other decorative items , such as playing pieces.

If you've ever held a handful of bakelite checkers, you should have
noticed a rich lustre, a heavy, "massy" heft to them, a sensuous "click"
as they jostle about. It's very distinctive. Modern Crisloid checkers
are lighterweight. ...just cheaper feeling.

Same goes for doubling cubes.

Bakelite is like "kleenex" -- a leading (originating, here) brand name
that became the standard name for the product. The later plastic,
"Catalin" is a species of bakelite, as I understand it. Many great radios
in the 40's/50's were made from Catalin. It's a little lighter, but
alomost sparkles.

As you can tell, I'm keen on bakelite. I use vintage bakelite pieces
(green/yellow) on my Crisloid board when I go down to Harvard Square
(rarely these days).

Albert

One last dig at Crisloid: to widen their profit margin, they shrank the
sixe of their checkers about 10 years ago, so they no longer fit snugly in
the game sets. They slosh around. Grrr.

[Bob Stringer]

Albert Steg wrote:

> [deleted]One last dig at Crisloid: to widen their profit margin, they shrank

> the
> sixe of their checkers about 10 years ago, so they no longer fit snugly in
> the game sets. They slosh around. Grrr.

About 12, maybe even 15 years ago I had a Crisloid stolen out of the trunk of
my car. I didn't get another Crisloid until recently, and until I read your
post I kept thinking "Gee, I don't remember the checkers clinking around in
the case like this!" Grrr is right.

--
Bob Stringer

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