Art Deco Bakelite Cigarette boxes

I found a bunch of Art Deco age bakelite cigarette boxes this week. They still have a bit of stickum on the lids from the 99 cent price tags, I need to find some scotch tape to stickum the remenants of the glue, since I can't use any sort of solvent.

I found a bunch of Art Deco age bakelite cigarette boxes this week. They still have a bit of stickum on the lids from the 99 cent price tags, I need to find some scotch tape to stickum the remenants of the glue, since I can’t use any sort of solvent.

Just the right size for the old stubby pre-1950's filterless cigarettes. Shown here with my Ronson Mastercase lighter/cigarette case.

Just the right size for the old stubby pre-1950’s filterless cigarettes. Shown here with my Ronson Mastercase lighter/cigarette case.

this is what happens when you forget to lock down the tripod head during a long exposure with low-output color-phasing lights. Lock the tripod and you get an approximate white as the camera exposes long enough for the bulbs to complete their phasing cycle. Loose tripod, and the exposure shows the reflected lights phasing in different areas of the frame as the lens slides downward, creating a rainbowish effect. Accidents are neat! :D

this is what happens when you forget to lock down the tripod head during a long exposure with low-output color-phasing lights. Lock the tripod and you get an approximate white as the camera exposes long enough for the bulbs to complete their phasing cycle. Loose tripod, and the exposure shows the reflected lights phasing in different areas of the frame as the lens slides downward, creating a rainbowish effect. Accidents are neat! :D

Updated: August 16, 2013 — 6:33 pm

7 Comments

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  1. Those are the bees knees!

  2. Those are pretty neat. I bet you find a lot of stuff because of all the retirees.

  3. Wow … enough to make me want to light up.

  4. Ahh, how many films from the ’20s-’60s have I seen where somebody reaches into a box like those to take out an unfiltered nail? Very nice, Ted.

  5. Some beautiful designs there. I can see why you found them so charming.

  6. Nice boxes. Something nice out of the smoker’s industry of the past. I’ve never seen anything like those. Tye’d make nice useful conversation pieces since things other than cigarettes can be stored in them
    I doubt there are any nice smoking accessories these days due to the political and health correctness movements.

  7. Yep, I think these will be nice for holding spare ribbons or pens, stamps, Ko-Rec-Type sheets, IBM Selectric golfballs, etc. considering I don’t have any 70mm filterless smokes around. I got a nice tip from The Thrift Shopper forums about cleaning Bakelite – it seems olive oil on a cotton ball will do the trick without marring the surface. I’ll report how that works out. (:

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