Vintage Hyatt Albany Fancy Clay Billiard Pool Ball Set 16 pieces Missing Balls

Description

Vintage Albany Pocket Billiard Ball Company 'Fancy O' model nitrocellulose/camphor/clay Billiard Pool Ball Set 16 pieces Poor Condition Missing Balls Very OLD, Missing Balls: 2,3,8. Not in original box, but the box is included. This set includes 1,4,5,6,6,7,7,9,9,10,11,12,13,14,15, cue ball, a total of 16 balls in green box.
Billiard ball diameter: 2-1/4". Made in Albany New York USA. Condition: poor, cracks, shrinkage, age deterioration, discoloration, wear, color loss, nicks, dents, vintage material, cue ball is off white color as a result of age. The cracks and shrinkage in the billiard balls is a result of oxidation, drying, and gasing off of the nitrocellulose/camphor/clay compound over the many years and the shrinkage of the molecular structure within the compound. Missing 8 ball, missing 2 ball, missing 3 ball. Set included two 6 balls, two seven balls, two 9 balls. All other balls intact in set. Condition is poor, collectors item.
In about 1865, John Wesley Hyatt of Albany, New York acquired British chemist Alexander Parkes's 1855 patent for Parkesine, an early polymer, made of nitrocellulose, oil and other compounds. Parkes built a business around the new material, the first industrial plastic, but failed by 1868. Hyatt began experimenting with cellulose nitrate with the intention of manufacturing billiard balls, which until that time were in the upper class, were principally made from ivory. Hyatt developed a compound to manufacture a replacement for the ivory ball. Hyatt formed the
Albany Billiard Ball Company
, in Albany, New York's South End in 1868. Hyatt received a patent on the nitrocellulose receipe in 1869. In 1870, John and his brother Isaiah developed an advanced material with the inclusion of nitrocellulose and camphor utilized in the manufacture dental replacements along with the billiard ball. Isaiah Hyatt called their new material: Celluloid in 1872. It was put to use by the Albany Billiard Ball Company and its sister company, Albany Dental Plate Co.
Albany's celluloid-based composite material pool balls dominated the US market until the 1960s, when the increased availability of cheap, imported balls caused a decline in the company which later became the
Albany–Hyatt Billiard Ball Company
in September 1977. It was the last remaining US-based major billiard ball manufacturer. By the early 1980s, Albany was using the newer, superior phenolic resin, like their Belgium-based competitor Saluc. Albany–Hyatt went out of business in 1986.
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