I did a tour of the RMS Queen Mary when I was a child. I recall that the lower two classes had metal handrails in the halls (gold in 2nd class and brass in 3rd class, if I remember correctly) but that 1st class had plastic handrails. The tour guide said that, at the time the ship was built, plastic was a novelty because it was warm to the touch and, because it was still rare, was seen as a luxury.
First of all, does my memory of this sound plausible, that 1st class on the RMS Queen Mary had plastic handrails for this reason? Was plastic seen as luxurious in the 1930s? Were there many plastic items from that decade that were meant only for the wealthy?
Do you know if it was Bakelite?
It was the first mass produced form of plastic. It was replaced by more practical products relatively quickly so there was never really that much of it made, but it has always maintained a high novelty value.