I came across a strange variation of a no. 160 bin in a lot of track I purchased on Ebay. I got a chip in the top but otherwise in awesome shape. The wierd thing is that its colored or speckled with colorss. It looks kinda like its marbled. Anyway is this a pre-war version or is a strange Lionel item. Very interested either way!
Bakolite with browns and greens perhaps? I’ve seen them before, and they are unusual looking compared to the normal black. I’m not sure when they were done, or which accessories they came with. It strikes me as an attempt by Lionel to get them to blend in with scenery more, insread of having this black thing sitting next to the track.
Speckled bins aremore rare than plain black ones, but not really any more valuable. I believe that prewar bins were sheetmetal.
The speckling or mottling comes from the formulation
of the Bakelite itself. Usually when a new batch was
run thru the molds. CTT did an article on this a while
back. Just a normal variation like the different shades
of plastic from molds later on in the Modern era. The
Bakelite is just as strong and durable. No particular
reason for the variations other than normal production.