Bakelite roulette wheel · red-and-black number ring

A roulette wheel made of Bakelite: the red-and-black number ring on the outside, the turning plate with its metal cross in the middle. About 25 centimetres across.

Bakelite is the first fully synthetic plastic — developed by Leo Baekeland in 1907 and used until the nineteen-fifties for everything that had to be hard, heat-resistant and cheap: telephones, radio cabinets, switches, toys. After that the new thermoplastics pushed it out. That places this wheel roughly between the twenties and the fifties — without a maker’s mark it cannot be narrowed down further.

The deep, slightly marbled brown looks at first glance like dark wood — it fools people regularly. Bakelite is heavier than modern plastic, sounds dull rather than bright when tapped, and has a matt sheen no varnish achieves. Scratches do not go through a layer of paint but into the material, because it is coloured all the way through.

The plate runs on a central axle and spins freely — one push is good for several turns. Underneath sits a cross of metal struts holding the axle; a maker’s mark is stamped there too, which I cannot read with certainty from the photos. For a casino the wheel would be too light and the ring too narrow — it belongs among the parlour-game wheels for the living room table.

• Roulette wheel, Bakelite
• Diameter about 25 cm
• Red-and-black number ring
• Plate spins freely on a central axle
• Metal cross and maker’s mark underneath
• Roughly dated 1920s to 1950s by the material
• Ball not included

Good. The wheel turns without dragging, the axle has no play. The number ring is fully legible, with wear at the edges. The Bakelite shows signs of use and a small scratch on the outer edge — on material coloured right through, that barely shows. The ball is missing.