Bakelite planter [sold]

Sellex bakelite planter
made in Sydney, Australia c.1940s

This is a rare, rare item – a bakelite planter [one puts one’s potted plant inside.] Rare because not many bakelite planters have survived to this day and age- this is the only one I’ve seen thus far. And rare because ‘end-of-day’ bakelite wasn’t normally used for items this large.

End-of-day bakelite, you’ll remember from avid reading of my previous posts, was produced at the end of the day [strangely enough] when all the left over bits of bakelite were thrown into the mix. Because bakelite is cast [rather than moulded] it allowed a variety of colours to be added together. As you can see from the planter, the left over colours were thoughtfully placed in the mix, creating quite lovely patterns.

With the planter, but not for sale [due to sentimental reasons] are a series of end-of-day ‘samples’. These samples  are drilled, suggesting they were hung together, to provide a guide to the end-of-day mixture of colours.

The green and white planter was made by Sellex, and it is embossed with ‘Sellex no 123 REGD’ on it’s underside. I know its provenance as one of my horticulture students gave it to me, knowing I love bakelite and plants. It’s in excellent condition, having never actually been used as a planter; and I am very reluctantly parting with it.

The bakelite planter is for sale: $AUD145