Fordite, automotive history! Sold individually

These sculptural pieces are vintage fordite, a really unusual material.  It is not a mineral but is actually formed of layer upon layer of automotive paint as cars were spray painted. The paint overspray built up on the equipment and was baked along with the cars to cure the paint. It was then cleaned off the equipment, broken into pieces and lightly tumbled to reveal the fascinating layers and colours that you see. The second photo shows a couple of "raw" pieces, where you can see how they formed over piping.  It was originally sourced from the Ford factory in Detroit, hence the name.

Due to improvements in painting technology this no longer happens so fordite is no longer produced. The colours vary with the age of the piece, the car manufacturer and the model.  Apparently yellow is the rarest colour.  My supplier told me that these specimens did come from Detroit. 

The left two specimens show the layers revealed as upper-most ones are irregularly polished away.  The right hand one has a rainbow effect showing a cross-section of paint layers.

Left, wood base: 15/16 inch (2.4 cm) wide, 3/4 inches (1.9 cm) deep, 11/16 inch (1.75 cm) tall.

Centre, black plastic base: 1 1/8 inches (2.9 cm) wide, 3/8 inch (0.95 cm) deep, 5/8 inch (1.6 cm) tall.

Right, black plastic base: 3/4 inches (1.9 cm) wide, 3/8 inch (0.95 cm) deep, 9/16 inch (1.4 cm) tall.