For this installment about the Chase Specialty Line, Driving for Deco will look at some of the company’s cocktail and drinking accessories.

 

 

Liqueur Set

(1935 – 1939)

This  attractive set consists of six gleaming chromium Liqueur Cups and a small round tray with a deep English blue glass bottom. The small cups 2 3/8 inches high, hold just enough and will not tip over easily. Furnished in polished chromium.  – 1935 Chase Specialties Catalog

The Liqueur Set is another Chase marriage of two items by different designers. In this case the cups are the work of Lurelle Guild (1898 – 1985) and the Coaster Tray by Russel Wright (1904 – 1976). Originally retailing at $4.00 for the complete set and $0.50 for each cup.

These days this set is becoming hard to find.

 

Because the tray was originally designed for the Pancake and Corn Set, it is seen much less often with the Liqueur Cups.  Currently on line, the cups have been selling from $45.00 – $200.00 for a set of six. Expect to pay between $45.00 and $75.00 for just the tray online or at antique malls. But with luck one can find a complete set for as little as $45.00 and $120.00 on the high end, which is still quite a reasonable price.

Condition is important when considering purchasing Russel Wright’s Coaster Tray. Check to that the chrome is not pitting and the glass in the tray does not have excessive scratching.

Stirring Cocktail Mixer and Spoon

(1934 – 1937)

Some cocktails should be stirred – not shaken. This graceful mixer was designed for us by Walter Von Nessen. It holds one quart and has a guard which holds back the ice, but does not prevent perfect pouring. Beautifully finished in gleaming chromium outside, satin silver inside, Complete with long handled stirring spoon to match the mixer. – 1935 Chase Specialties Catalog

This, very modern looking, cocktail pitcher is another Chase piece that is not easy to find in the wild, especially with its spoon. Selling in 1935 for the pretty hefty price of $5.00, the equivalent of $109.00 in 2023, and only in production for about three years, are factors why this is difficult to find today.

 

And when one comes across the Stirring Cocktail Mixer, expect to pay a high price for it. As of this writing there are several selling online ranging in price from $125.00 (with dents and surface scratching) to up to $450.00, and none these come with its original spoon.

 

Iced Drink Cups

(1936 – 1942)

A graceful cup for long, cool drinks, such as mint juleps, planters’ punch, lemonade and ice tea. – 1942 Chase Specialties Catalog

 

Harry Laylon’s (1911 – 1997) design for the Chase Iced Drink Cups is simple but captures the streamline aesthetic popular in the late 1930s. Tall, shiny and tapered toward the bottom with a flare lip at the top, the only decorative feature is a set of engraved lines on its bottom quarter.

While the Iced Drink Cup is not too easy to find today, prices vary greatly. Online these are selling for less than $40.00 for a set of four to $179.00 for eight. If buying them, just make sure that the surface does not have deep scratches. Because of being stored stacked together, the surface chrome can become very damaged.

 

Iced Drink Mixers

(1936 – 1939)

These attractive mixers may be used for all iced drinks, tea, highballs, rickeys. They are of polished chromium with gay jade green and lapis blue composition leaf decorations. They are 8 3/8  inches long. Each set includes four mixers (two green and two blue. – Chase Specialty Catalog, date unknown

Though the catalog only mentions jade and lapis Bakelite leaf decorations, some of these mixers exist with white (now darkened to butterscotch) leaves. Aside from the leaf the only other decorative feature of the mixer is the half ribbed ball at the bottom.  A set of four cost $1.00 in the late 1930s (equivalent of $21.50 in 2023). These command a hefty price on the collectors market, with an average selling price of around $100.00 for a set of four.

Old-Fashioned Cocktail Cups

(1935 – 1942)

The “Old-Fashioned” is one of the most popular American cocktails. It requires a special glass or cup. Each Chase Old-Fashioned Cocktail Cup is furnished with a muddler for crushing the fruit in an old-fashioned cocktail. – 1942 Chase Specialties Catalog

Like the Iced Drink Cups, Laylon’s design is simple, with only two sets of engraved lines. Even though these simple chrome cups had a relatively long production life, they are not too easy to come by today. Originally selling for $0.75 each ($16.30 today), complete with muddler, which seems like quite a reasonable price. Today, expect to pay a pretty hefty price to add these cups to your collection. Currently online, one seller is asking $328.00 for a set of four with their original muddlers.

Old-Fashioned Cocktail Muddlers

(1935 – 1939)

Chase cocktail muddlers are 4 inches long and made in polished chromium finish. They are unbreakable and strong enough to stand the pressure exerted on them for crushing fruit in cocktails. The ball tops are finished in red, black, green and ivory composition. Four muddlers in assorted colors are packed to a box. – Chase Specialties Catalog, date unknown

Unfortunately, these sleek little sticks has no designer attribution. A set of four originally selling for $0.75 ($16.00 today), the muddlers are somewhat difficult to find today. Other than the Bakelite knob their only decorative features are concentric circles on the base and two sets of speed lines circle the stem near the top and bottom. When found today the Bakelite knobs has darkened considerably. The green can be almost as dark as the black. And what was once ivory colored Bakelite has turned into a pleasing butterscotch color. Buying a set of these on line will set you back anywhere from $50.00 (in our opinion at very good price) to about $100.00 and sometimes more.

 

Coaster Set

(Pre-1933 – 1937)

Coasters that will not stick to the glass. They may be had in satin copper or polished chromium. Attractively boxed in sets of four. Also sold one dozen to a box. – 1933 Chase Specialities Catalog

With a production life of around five years, these coasters are not too easy to find today. And the satin copper ones much less common than the chrome variety. And that is reflected in the asking price by sellers, ranging from $100.00 for a set of eight on Ebay to $300.00 for six from a dealer specializing in vintage barware for the coasters in chrome. At the time of this writing, no copper ones are available.

 

Danube

(1936 – 1941)

If the Coaster Set is not easy to find today, the Danube Coasters fall in the difficult to find category. Like the earlier coasters the Danube also had a production life of approximately five years. These, too, were available in polished chrome and copper, with the copper ones being much harder to find today. And to add a set of the Danube coasters to your collection expect to pay a premium price. Currently online one set of five (consisting of 4 chrome and 1 copper) is selling for $300.00, while another set of eight (all chrome) is $250.00.

 

Squeezit Bottle Opener

(1936 – 1941)

This very clever bottle opener, designed by Harry Laylon and Theodore Low, works differently from other bottle openers. Standard bottle openers pull the ridge edge out and dent the top of the bottle cap, the Squeezit removes the cap without denting it, making it possible to reuse it. To use it, place the eagle head down over the cap with the beak over one end, then as the name implies, squeeze the handle towards the bottle, the cap lifts off, intact.

Selling for $0.50 in 1936 ($10.85 in 2023) the Squeezit was a bargain. Chase produced this bottle opener for approximately five years, so it must have sold reasonably well, yet it is not an easy piece to find today. But when it does turn up on the collector’s market, it is just as reasonably price now as it was in the 1930s. One can expect to pay in the $10.00 – $25.00 dollar range for it.

 

 

Bar Caddy

(1939 – 1942?)

The Bar Caddy is a combination jigger, bottle opener, corkscrew and ice breaker. The jigger is marked off for measuring 3/4 of an ounce, 1 ounce, 11/2 ounces and 2 ounces. The jigger bottom is extra heavy metal, so you can crack ice cubes with it. The handle is a crown bottle-cap opener. A corkscrew is concealed in the handle, when assembled. – 1942 Chase Specialities Catalog

This Harry Laylon design is available in two styles. The handle of the original style featured a smooth pointed end. The later variation featured a flat, ringed end which served as a muddler for making Old-Fashioned cocktails. Also the ribbed band on the handle / bottle opener is higher up on the modified version.

The Chase Bar Caddy must have been a very popular and sold well, judging by how easily they are found today. Sales of it continued on into the mid-1940s, beyond the end of the rest of Chase’s Specialty Line. So, either Chase produced so many there was a large back stock or Chase kept making them.

These days, the Bar Caddy usually sells between $10.00 – $20.00. If it is in its originally box, expect to pay a bit more. The corkscrew was a structurally weak point of the piece and tended to break off, make sure that is intact before making a purchase.

 

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen Guys)

 

Sources

• Art Deco Chrome Book 2 – Kilbride, Richard J., Jo-D Books

• Chase Catalogs 1934 and 1935 – Piña, Leslie and Johnson, Donald-Brian, A Schiffer Book

• Chase Complete – Johnson, Donald-Brian and Piña, Leslie, A Schiffer Book

• Chase Era, The – Johnson, Donald-Brian and Piña, Leslie, A Schiffer Book