Boontonware plate

A pink with white flecks Boontonware dinner set, compression moulded in melamine formaldehyde. Thought to be part of the Boontonware Belle line, designed by Belle Kogan for the Boonton Molding Company in the 1950s. The company was founded as the Loanda Hard Rubber Company in Boonton, NJ, in 1891 by Edwin Scribner. They progressed to manufacturing products made from bakelite (phenol formaldehyde) in the early 1900s and then focused on melamine from 1946 as the Boonton Molding Co. Producing dinnerware sets called Boontonware, in the late 1940s Russian/US industrial designer Belle Kogan was brought in to design a line named Boontonware Belle. Having a unique 'square in the circle' shape, the sets were often sold in different mix and match colours with four plates, bowls, cups and saucers. They were modern, attractive, durable (marketed as virtually indestructible) and reasonably priced, becoming particularly popular throughout America in the 1950s. Boontonware continues to be manufactured in Ohio by GMR Technology, a plastics moulding company that purchased the Boontonware name and rights to the moulds in 2001. This set dates to 1952 and was brought to the UK by the donor's father after a three month business trip. The dimensions given are for the dinner plate.

moulded: "Boontonware USA" (bottom)

AIBDC : 009101