Green bakelite pieces by Marquis and Duperite
made in Australia, c.1940-1950s
And so to the green bakelite. All the pieces in the image are made by Marquis, with the exception of the scoops which were made by Duperite. There were ten companies producing bakelite domestic ware in Australia in the post-war period, and I have examples of them all!
The ten companies [I know you want to know!] were: Nally [see picnic cups, in post below] Eon, Helix [see blue bakelite post below] Sellex, Iplex, Nylex [names ending with ‘ex’ particularly modern!] Tilly, Bristilite and Duperite [‘ite’ endings evoking bakelite.]
I particularly like the salt and pepper shakers – there are three sets in this collection, seen in the middle at the back of the image. The top and bottom of the shakers separate to reveal the two shakers; and you can see that the screw-on bases were often different coloured bakelite.
The green bakelite containers also have screw-on lids. They were originally used to contain spices or condiments, and have a somewhat ‘deco’-styling. These containers are particularly collectable – people like to collect them in every colour possible. For sale: $AUD165
re:retro 
i agree, those shakers are awesome. and very nice set collectively!
thanks! green is a colour i’m drawn to. thanks for your comment!
Reblogged this on JahsWorld.
hey JahsWorld…thanks! love your work!
Always so informative Edwina. I have one of those scoops, picked it up just because I like the colour, not thinking much of it. So thanks for shedding some light. I also have a green picnic set http://urbanrusticblog.com/2012/01/22/green-tea/ that are probably bakelite too I guess. They are quite brittle. What do you think? Can’t recall the brand [in storage]. Do you know how to tell by looking if its bakelite? Such an awesome colour. You have great stuff! cheers.
hi sandy, thanks for your kind words. you can tell if something is bakelite by smell…if you rub the item vigorously and produce some friction you can smell the formaldehyde (i know, that sounds lovely!) – a constituent of bakelite. there is also a couple of chemical analyses you can do, but they can mark the bakelite. the smell test works best.
Love how you style your photos!
thanks- i owe it all to my photographer son, oscar. we do discuss the styling together and tend to agree, but if we have different ideas he wins!