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Hello, I googled this and still have no idea how to answer.
“I notice that you list this white mug as “melamine”
You have others which you list as “plastic” – probably Triton.
Just want to make sure that this one IS melamine and not plastic/Triton”Anyone know about this? I’m probably going to say I don’t know. It isn’t marked. Listing
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don’t know if this helps or just further muddies the waters:
https://www.remodelista.com/posts/object-lessons-heller-dinnerware/
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Ms. ChristineR ….
Here is some info. Tritan not “ton” it is TriTAN and is actually Eastman’s name for “polycarbonate” which is the actual chemical name. GE makes the same product and their trade name is Lexan. So these are just trade names for the same product like Rohmn Haas brand name of Acrylic Sheeting is called Plexiglass and others are called other trade names but all are aryclic polymers, heated and rolled out into sheets of varying thicknesses and then have a protective thin pre-masking applied to each surface for protection.
Polycarbonite is a more modern product. We printed on sheets of lexan for years. Polycarb [as we called it] is mostly clear and has, of course it’s special properties] which you can look up if you want to know the actual chemical composition and performance difference between polycarb and melamine.
Turvis Tumblers and many clear cups and glasses are made out of polycarb. Cutting boards mostly acrylic, those thin roll up cutting sheets at Kitchen and bath stores are .015 and .020 polycarb.
Melamine was first synthesized by the German chemist Justus von Liebig in 1834. In early production, first calcium cyanamide was converted into dicyandiamide, which was heated above its melting temperature to produce melamine.
Melamine, a commonly used material in dinnerware in the late 40’s, 50’s. A company named American Cyanamid [notice the company’s name has the chemical name in it.. clue!], called their version of melamine powder used in the production of dinnerware “Melmac”. Melatline dishes that were manufactured using this brand of melamine powder are called Melmac dinnerware.
So you have the same scenario as I outlined on the polycarb’s and acrylics. All of this stuff IS PLASTIC. JUST VARIATIONS of the chemical formulas and then sold under different brand names.
Your buyer is trying to split hairs on you and or bust your chops. But now you have the data. Your answer is they are all plastic and generically you can use plastics as a key word, also Thermo-plastics because heat is used in the mfg. process. Then Tritan [he misspelled it] is a polycarb formula and if your product is clear you are safe in adding clear polycarbonite in your Item specifics.
Now as to Identifying if it is GE [General Electric believe it or not] or Eastman’s brand who know because they brand mark the raw pellets in boxes, sell and ship to converters that heat, melt and then thermo form the melted, oozing, liquified resin and it is injected [squeezed] into molds to make various products.
Melamine has it’s characteristics, Melamine resin or melamine formaldehyde (also shortened to melamine) is a hard, thermosetting plastic material made from melamine and formaldehyde by polymerization. In its butylated form, it is dissolved in n-butanol and xylene.
Now if you read carefully, I bet you can see why there are no one now making Melamine products. #1 it chemical make up contains Formaldehyde and #2 it is dissolved in Xylene [used in some dry cleaning products]… Oooppss!!!! no one wants to eat off of or out of products out gassing those two products.So you have enough information now to answer him with a detailed knowledge that way over shadows his knowledge. They are all Thermo plastics. His reference is his thinking they are different but actually just different brand names. melamine does not have a clear base formula so most are colored.
Then ask him if he can tell you how to tell the dofference between Melmac and melamine if two black trays are sitting side by side AND DO NOT HAVE THE COMPANY STAMP ON THE BOTTOM. Bet you dollars to donuts you will never hear from him again.
Now that I bored you to death with as Jay calls my replies, “a wall of text”, I will drink my morning coffee and get back to working on a WonderLister project.
Ta-Ta for now
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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Oh, Christine, no question is too nitpicky when it comes to collectors. Very helpful information, Mike! I for one thank you for your wall of text. But you did not mention the important fact that Alf came from the planet Melmac, which puts everything into a different perspective.
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Hey Temudgin.. How ‘ya been? That is just too funny. Yes, Alf was from the planet Melmac. Haven’t thought of that show or character in ages. Hilarious!! 🙂 LOL
Didn’t Alf always try to eat the cat?? Funny. I think I read somewhere that they are thinking about a revival of Alf, I believe.
Mike at MDCGFA
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I’m hangin’ in there; been pretty busy with non-ebay life over the last several months. I had never watched Alf when it ran originally in the late ‘80’s. I don’t think I even had a TV in that time period. But my wife loved the show so when the DVDs of the original seasons came out she bought them. They became something we could put on to watch with our kids when they were getting into late elementary school age. Much of the humor went over their heads of course but they still liked the show and those same lines made it watchable for mom and dad. We love cats but don’t mind a good joke at their expense. And I can’t look at a piece of Melmac without thinking of Alf.
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Thanks Mike. So had an email exchange with the buyer indicating that I couldn’t say what kind of plastic it was and had found some other sellers with same thing new in a box that didn’t indicate that. Also found out they make repros of these if the buyer is concerned about modern health standards.
Apparently the issue was color for this buyer. Interesting…New message from: centrework
You’ve done some good research. No — not concerned about the health issues bc I basically want them as art objects. LOL. The
Original melamine pieces are not stark white but seem to a different weight and a bit off white. Thanks so much! -
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I know this thread is a little bit old, but I gotta ask, because I’m confused now.
There are new products currently on the market (target.com, wayfair.com) that they’re calling melamine. Is this stuff somehow different, yet the same? And more importantly, is there a discernable difference that effects the value/collectibility of the new stuff vs. the old?
I’ve been wading into this category, so I guess I’d better figure it out.
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This link is completely at random. I searched a little bit more and this stuff seems to be on every site that sells kitchenware.
https://www.crateandbarrel.com/alfresco-melamine-botanical-flower-salad-plate/s451294
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Interesting. I guess melamine has gotten so popular again they’re remaking it. I guess if it says “melamine” it must have some of those qualities. Looks like it’s still made in China.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine
Seems like nasty stuff. They were supplementing animal feed with the stuff 🙁
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