"The Bandalasta trademark dissapeared in 1932."...
Bandalasta was produced for much longer than the 5 year span often quoted. In fact, Harrods were selling Antler picnic sets with Bandalasta combined salt and pepper pots well into the 1990's. What did change over time was the colour range available.
The Army and Navy Stores were selling marbled Bandalasta at least as late as 1940.
Page from the Army Navy Stores catalogue 1939/1940
INTRODUCTION
Bandalasta has all the elements that collectors look for, making it a perfect subject for collecting. There are superb designs; Most items are marked with a design code; Some items have patent numbers some have registered design numbers; In the marble colours, no two items are the same (due to the manufacturing process in which the colours were added to the moulds by hand); It's uncommon enough to make finding a rare piece a thrill (look on eBay - you'll probably find about 10 items, Clarice Cliff, on the other hand, you'll probably find about 1000); It still occasionally turns up at antique fairs and auctions; Sometimes you can be lucky enough to pick up a piece fairly cheaply and there is still a lot of unknown facts to discover.
THE COLOURS
Bandalasta was produced in a wide variety of colours, the single self colours, the two colour marbled and the rich multi-coloured marbled. In the early catalogues the colours were given an alphanumeric code which indicated the constituent colours. Some of the later colour combinations do not appear to have been given a code so we have taken it upon ourselves to make one up, but based on the original system! Listed below are the colours that we have been able to identify to date, the ones in italics being the ones with the made up codes.
| Code | Description | Colour |
| B | Black |  |
| B15 | Dark Blue |  |
| B15B | Blue Marbled Black |  |
| B15W | Blue Marbled White |  |
| B22 | Light Blue |  |
| B22B15 | Light Blue Marbled Dark Blue |  |
| BR | Banda Rouge |  |
| C | Cream (White) |  |
| G11 | Apple Green |  |
| G11W | Apple Green Marbled White |  |
| G6 | Green |  |
| H | Horn (Brown Marble) |  |
| M | Marble |  |
| N | Ivory |  |
| NB15 | Ivory Marbled Blue |  |
| NG6 | Ivory Marbled Green |  |
| NGB | Ivory Marbled Green and Black |  |
| NR12B | Ivory Marbled Blood Red |  |
| NY8 | Ivory Marbled Orange |  |
| NY8G | Ivory Marbled Orange and Green |  |
| R12 | Claret |  |
| R7 | Pink |  |
| R7W | Pink Marbled White |  |
| R9 | Red |  |
| T | Tartan (Similar to Banda Rouge with a darker red) |  |
| V4 | Mauve |  |
| W1 | Walnut (Probably "Banda Wood") |  |
| WW | White Marbled White |  |
| Y6 | Primrose |  |
| Y7 | Yellow |  |
| Y7W | Yellow Marbled White |  |
| Y8 | Orange |  |
| Y8B | Orange Marbled Black |  |
| ?? | A Very Strange Colour Mix - (only ever seen on one bowl) |  |
THE MARKS
Nearly all Bandalasta items were stamped with an identifying mark, usually containing the name Bandalasta and a design code (the positioning of the design code relative to the name is variable). Notable exceptions are the serviette rings, the ILAT tray plates and the picnic bottle tops. The marks fall into two main categories, the ones in which the word Bandalasta is in block text and the ones in which the word Bandalasta is in script. The script version would seem to be on the more recent items (1940's/1950's onwards). Some of the earlier marks contain the words "OF BEATL" it is highly probable that these items were the ones marketed by the Beatl Sales Co. in the late 1920's to early 1930's.
Here are a few stylised examples of the 30 plus different marks identified to date.
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VALUES
This is the real tricky bit, a few years ago it was fairly easy to value items but since the rapid growth of eBay it has become more and more difficult. Something that sells for a few pounds one week can fetch tens of pounds the following week, a very difficult market to predict.
There are, however, a few rules. Perfect pieces sell for more than those with chips but, unusually for collectibles, most collectors don't seem to mind a few scratches and dings (it adds to the character!!). After all, we're talking about pieces of plastic some of which have survived a World War and most of which have survived the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's where people de-cluttered and plastic wasn't exactly highly valued.
The highest value goes to the items in the multi-marbled colours, followed by those in the two marbled colours and finally those in the single self-colours. Probably the highest values of all go to items in the colour "Banda Rouge".
For example:-
A perfect (maybe with minor surface scratching to the inside) Fruit or Rose Bowl, number 130 in "Banda Rouge", on a good day would fetch between £100 to £120, the same bowl in "Marble" about £80 to £100, the same Bowl in "Blue Marbled White" about £60 to £80 and in "Apple Green" about £40 to £60.
The rare items can, of course, command a premium price. The lamp, the silver rimmed 130-bowl, and the more fragile items such as the cocktail "glasses" and the tall candlesticks are all examples of the extremely scarce.
We may start monitoring the prices on eBay to give more help in this area, but it sounds like an incredibly time consuming task, so watch this space.