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gorgeous antique presse papier depicting a beautiful dressed Victorian lady on a kind of tomb bois durci Perhaps the best Victorian achievement with a ‘plastic’ based on animal polymer was patented in France in 1856 by Francois Charles Lepage, ‘literary man of Paris’. He claimed ‘A New Composition of materials which may be employed as a substitute for wood, leather, bone, metal and other hard or plastic substances’. His composition was made up from blood (from the Paris slaughterhouses) and powdered wood, mixed with colouring to simulate wood. He heated and stirred the mixture until it acquired the ‘correct consistency’ and then moulded it in a heated mould. The mixture was cured under heat and pressure yielding a hard, dense, glossy, moulding. ca 1880 good condition 13 cm x 9 cm x 5 cm high 125€ info : dirk.balduyck@telenet.be
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