George,
 
While contemplating what to do with a plastic airplane excavated from a  
street deposit at Old Town State Historic Park, San Diego in 1978, I noticed the  
texture and feel of the plastic differed from plastic in my auto. I consulted 
a  chemist who examined the plastic airplane and stated that early plastic  
chemistry evolved very rapidly, especially in the post war era. More  
importantly, she said that nearly every plastic injected into a commercial mold  had 
been patented first. She suggested that I have a portion of the airplane  
dissolved to determine the particular chemical composition and then search the  
plastic patents to determine who created it and when. Although a fascinating  idea 
with substantial implications for future archaeology, I knew California  State 
Parks would not give a rat's tail when the plastic airplane got deposited  in 
the street deposit of San Diego Avenue. I filed the information away in the  
"Zebra File" of my brain with the assumption that when I get older someone may 
 some day have a need to know about the chemical history of a plastic 
artifact.  Has the day come when someone would care enough to fund the chemical 
analysis of  drinking straws or plastic airplanes?
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.