POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

A tortoise shell tea caddy

Object No. E4258

Plastics have been described as "… materials that can be moulded or shaped into different forms under pressure or heat." In the twentieth century the move away from natural raw materials to synthetically produced plastics changed the way objects were produced, designed and used. Before the arrival of synthetic resins, natural plastics such as amber, horn, tortoiseshell, bitumen, shellac, gutta-percha and rubber were used to mould and manufacture artifacts. Horn and tortoiseshell were popular raw materiasl because they could be heated and moulded and the search to mould products quickly and cheaply rather than carve them became the prime motivating force behind the development of plastics. Tortoiseshell is made up of two proteins: keratin and chitin. Like horn, it can be moulded but high temperatures darken the shell making the markings less distinct. The Hawksbill turtle, Testudo imbricate, was most prized for its shell, which has thirteen plates. The plates from other turtles were not as fine, and as a consequence were not as sought-after. This may have proved to be a good thing for the other turtles, for hunters exploited the shells' tendency to soften when heated by placing the live Hawksbill over a fire on its back and then removing the softened plates. The turtle was then released in the hope it would survive to grow another crop. By the middle of the nineteenth century tortoiseshell and ivory were becoming expensive and this encouraged the search for alternate materials. In 1852 Alexander Parkes developed the first semi-synthetic plastic from cellulose nitrate and by 1860 it was being pressed into moulds to make billiard balls, pens, and even artificial teeth. The high demand for shell and the cruel treatment of these animals eventually led to the near-extinction of these turtles and as a result many countries ban the use of turtle shell in making articles. Natural plastics like horn continued to be used well into the twentieth century but synthetic plastics are now used almost exclusively by manufacturers. Tea, which is indigenous to China, was introduced to Europe in the 1600s. In 1664 the newly coroneted Queen Elizabeth was given two pounds of tea by the East India Company; 14 years later they imported 4,713 pounds. The earliest tea caddies to arrive in Europe were made of porcelain but others were made from wood, pewter and tortoiseshell. This tea caddy is made from wood and is covered in a veneer of tortoiseshell glued to the surface. References MacGregor, A., 'Bone, Antler, Ivory and Horn: the technology of skeletal materials since the Roman period', Barnes and Noble Books, New Jersey, 1985. Mossman, S., (ed.), Early Plastics; perspectives, 1850-1950, Leicester University Press, London, 1997 Schaverien, A., 'Horn, its History and its Uses', Everbest Printing Co., 2006 Mossman, S., Morris, P. J. T., (eds.), 'The Development of Plastics', Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 1993 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_caddy Geoff Barker, March, 2007