Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride

is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from an elimination reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. It was developed by Belgian-born chemist Leo Baekeland in New York in 1907 and is better known as Bakelite.

This has been sitting on top of the dado rail above the wooden panelling in my office for as long as I have been at Blair Drummond House. I've never looked closely at it and always assumed it was wood. Now I think otherwise.

It consisits of a small cup with a hole running from the inside centre down through the threaded wooden base it is mounted on.

Do you know what it is yet?