Automatic Electric 1A - Red with Gold Trim

[unbeldi]

The smell of phenol may only manifest itself when the material is rubbed with a hot part, but that can vary.

In the 30s many small items, like buttons, napkin holders, rings, ornaments,...  were made from Catalin. Certainly a lot less complex that a telephone housing.  I am not sure I agree with the statement that the mold had to be destroyed, i don't see why that would be, the parts were made in presses also.

The other material that is relevant, and supported by your observation of NO smell at all, is that these were actually produced from cellulose acetate derivatives.  Eastman patented (or trademarked?) Tenite the first time around 1929 or 30.
I looked with interest at this housing to see the quality of surface texture, and it seems to be much alike a Tenite surface, but picture can't tell the truth always.  I do seem to recall a mentioning on some collector's website of this material in connection with these AE phones.

[unbeldi]

So to recap:

AE playing with colors, first the mahogany and Walnut variations of bakelite in the 1928 to 1934 time frame.
Colored plastics seen in model 34/35 sets made in the 1934 to 1939 time frame.
Colored sets much more plentiful once the 40/50 introduced in 1939.

Terry

I think this sounds pretty reasonable.  I always had the feeling that the claims of really early brightly colored 1As may be exaggerated, and that these more likely came from the mid to late 1930s, when the color processes were much better defined in terms of mass production.

[unbeldi]

In general, one can sometimes distinguish injection-molded parts from pressed-molded parts from the thickness of the material.

In general, injection-molding is the method of choice for thermoplastics, such as cellulose acetate. Injection molded pieces typically have quite uniform thickness of the plastic walls throughout the piece. Even small features, such as cradle ears have a hollow core rather than being simply solid.  This is required to maintain proper pressure in all spaces in the mold for the molten plastic to expand into yet unfilled spaces.

In pressing, the resin already has a shape that is somewhat reminiscent of the final shape. For example, handsets were molded from pucks placed in the space where the handset and receiver cavities would be.

Looking at this 1A housing, it seems to fulfill the injection molding "rules", better than the "pressed" model.  The plastic walls of the dial bay are about as thick as the outer walls and nicely curve around the dial.  Bakelite housings often have much thicker walls and thick areas where extra strength is needed, even later in the 1950s when the manufacturing processes had long been perfected.  On injection-molded pieces, one often structures such ribs in critical areas.