Featured Bakelite help, please

Hello everyone,
This tested positive as Bakelite. How come the Uv Light makes it change color? Does the invisible, screw clasp help date it? What color would you call this? I am at a loss when it comes to this stuff. I can’t even smell it like someone people can.

Any help is very much appreciated

have a great week!

 

It sure looks like amber. My grandmother had a 30s bakelite necklace with that clasp, but who knows how long it was around.

 

It really does look like amber. I’ve been caught out before with dirt and nicotine making it look like a Bakelite positive. Not saying this is the case but did you wash them really well first?

 

It was dirty. I did the test twice because there was grime that came off the first time. Is the change in color with the UV light a reason to think it could be amber?

i didn’t think Bakelite would change colors with UV light

 

It looks like the surface reflection of the UV light, it doesn't actually fluoresce the way amber does imo.
Baltic cognac amber fluoresces opaque egg yolk yellow. I don't know about cognac amber from other regions, but I would think it fluoresces the same.

Just to be sure, try the float test.

 

Please explain...Probably you mean a saline solution, for amber; it should float. But I'm curious enough to ask...thanks.

 

I'd say not amber, you're seeing the reflection as aj says, not diffusion.

 

Your beads are more like melted amber. Bakelite, when illuminated with a flashlight, has a beautiful pattern. []

 

Exactly.

Asking is the only way to understanding.

 

That is another test gauntlett can try.

 

Yup...I've shared that experience. Now it all gets washed before testing. I prefer 409, but Simichrome is good, too.
BTW, nicotine is colorless...it's the tars that coat everything with a yellow scum.
To be clear, true Bakelite is almost always black or brown, and absolutely opaque.
The correct name for what is colloquially called Bakelite is Catalin. From Wikipedia: Catalin is a brand name for a thermosetting polymer developed and trademarked in 1927 by the American Catalin Corporation of New York City, when the patent on Bakelite expired that year.
It is really magnificent stuff, an' I've got way too much of it, mostly in poker chips, backgammon rounds, etc.

 

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And then there is faturan.
I have so much to learn about this stuff. Thank you for the info I’ve tried to read up some but it hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t come across it all that often.

 

Not likely in this case.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever had any.