Worlds Fair Mystery

[Mr Ripley]

World's Fair Mystery

Hi all,

Two years ago I was digging in my local bottle dump and dug an odd plastic mold that had an image on it that said "Federal Building". There are a ton of Federal Buildings, so I stuck it in one of my many cubby holes for future research. Now I can't find it.

Yesterday at the same site I dug another one that was labeled Administration Building. Being that I have found both an ashtray and a salt shaker from the 1933 WF in Chicago I figured I would check WF sites. It seems that both the Federal and Administration buildings were from the 1939 WF in New York.

Today I go back and actually dug another one, this one the Gas Industries Building. I know the where, the when but I still don't know what they are.

The brown plastic blocks are 1 3/4"X1 1/4". One side is convex with the image etched into it, but the image is backwards. The other side is concave with the raised image correct. I have no clue what they are for. The latest one has a 6 on it and yesterday's had a 3, so I am thinking that the were a set of at least 6.

Any ideas or clues would be appreciated!!

Mr R

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

I dont know what they are but they must be Bakelite.

I agree 1939 New York Worlds Fair.

 

[kurtma12]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Maybe they were for putting an impression in something on tables at the World's Fair. Like the sand in an ashtray, or sugar, or butter, or something like that

 

[Mr Ripley]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

I dont know what they are but they must be Bakelite.

I would agree. Interestingly enough, DuPont introduced a type of plastic injection molding at their pavillion at this fair. Coincidence??

Maybe they were for putting an impression in something on tables at the World's Fair. Like the sand in an ashtray, or sugar, or butter, or something like that

For some reason I also envisioned them as putting impressions on pats of butter, but if that is what they are it seems to me that they would be used on site and not sold as momentos. Plus the number of the mold would show up in the impression.

Thank you both for taking the time to weigh in.

Mr R

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Could they be coasters? Ill search later, I think this is certainly solvable.

Heres something Bakelite connected to the Worlds Fair.

 

[Mr Ripley]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Could they be coasters?

Perhaps, but they are very small.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Could they be coasters?

Perhaps, but they are very small.

Ah, I didnt realize how small they are.

 

[goldguru]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

A token recieved @ the building during the fair?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Bakelite was huge at the 1939 Worlds Fair. I cant believe how many souvenir Bakelite items were available. This is the only thing I could come up with. Could it have been some kind of souvenir booklet?

 

[trikikiwi]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Maybe it was a competition for visitors - collect the numbers from the Trade Display booths.

and I can't resist showing my little treasure; after BigCy's


Mike

 

[blackrat]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

definitly not a plastics mold, i ran a molding company 20+ years. a plastic mold is not pressed into metal but actually the image is cut out of a chunk of metal.

 

[DCMatt]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Here's a thought...

The first item has white residue in it. The other has yellow in it. Could these be trays from a souvenir watercolor paint set?

DCMatt

 

[whynot]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Mr. Ripley,

Here's what I found:

The 1939 New York World's Fair was conceived during the depression with the idea of building something so fantastic that its very presence would lift the United States out of the doldrums of the depression. To accomplish this, the founders decided to make the 1939 worlds fair a truly international event by creating seven zones, each covering a different subject area.
The seven zones were: the Government Zone, the Community Interests Zone, the Food Zone, the Communications and Business Zone, the Production and Distribution Zone, the Transportation Zone and the Amusement Zone. The Government Zone was further broken up into three areas, the Country Zone, the Hall of Nations and the Court of States.

I'm guessing that you are probably the owner (so far) of 3 items from a set of 7.

The Administration Building was in the Communications and Business Zone.
The Gas Industries Building was in the Community Interests Zone.
The Federal Building was in the Government Zone.

I am guessing that these were molds used for perhaps chocolate, cookies, maybe even lead.

If I was to speculate on the remaining buildings which "represented" each zone, I would suggest:
Food Zone - Schaefer Center
Prod & Dist Zone - Consumers Building
Transportation Zone - RailRoad Building
Amusement Zone - Crystal Palace

At least you can date them now, circa 1939

Here's a neat site with drill-down pictures of the actual World's Fair:
http://www.pmphoto.to/worlds_fair/index.htm

-whynot

 

[SkyPirate]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Looks like a butter mold

 

[Mark S.]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

No ID here just observations.

The "convex" pieces would form reverse lettering. So they could not have been used by themselves as a mold. Unless they are the piece that came out of a mold.

The other pieces would form the proper letters. Does one piece fit inside the other? Cannot tell from the photos.

One thought is that something is pressed between them but that brings up the question of the numbers which are only on the "convex" pieces. They would be reversed on the molded item.

 

[whynot]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

Mark S.
now that you mention it... you're right. Guess I was getting foggy here... Perhaps used for stamping a tour map? I guess bakelite was the plastic of our day... Perhaps the concave sides were adhered to something... Thanks for your observations...
-whynot

 

[Mr Ripley]

Re: World's Fair Mystery

First of all, I would like to that you all for your input and research.

I also posted this mystery on a forum that is for World's Fair enthusiasts. They were guessing the same kinds of things that we were until I got this post this morning:

This is from a clay making kit. it was available with 6 different molds with clay in a very colorful box. this piece was purchased for my collection some 25 plus years ago and i have not seen it or any pieces since then

He did not post a pic, but I am pretty confident, as he was, that this ID is accurate. Now I just need to find the other three...

Thank you all again for your efforts!