As mentioned at the end of our “There’s no place like Chrome” Driving For Deco post, even though I collected Art Deco pieces, actively acquiring chrome items came later. In 1999 I purchased a Chase Bubble Cigarette Holder for $3.00.

 

Getting that first piece started a trickle of other chrome items. Within a few years the trickle became a flood. And since I now was looking, there seem to be Chase pieces everywhere.

Chrome, with its clean, cold look, appeals to my “Deco aesthetic” and the chrome items look great on my cobalt mirror tables.

 

 

Another nice feature of Chrome is it does not tarnish, so unlike silver it will never need polishing. During the 1930s lots of companies sold chrome items. But one company stood out from the others, not only in terms of quality but also in the variety of products. And that was the Chase Brass and Copper Company.

Henry Sabin Chase founded the Chase Brass & Copper Co. of Waterbury Connecticut in 1876. Soon after opening the company became one of the leading manufactures of industrial brass products in the United States. In 1929 the company became a subsidiary of Kennecott Utah Copper. The same year Chase opened business offices at 10 East 40th Street in Manhattan. In honor of being the first tenant the building became known as the Chase Tower.

 

 

During the 1930s to say that the economy was bad is an understatement.  The Great Depression put a strangle hold on business. Needing to reach new customers some companies reinvented themselves. As for Chase Brass & Copper this meant starting a whole new division. By adapting items like brass pipes and toilet tank floats into vases and syrup jugs, in 1932 the Chase Specialty line was born. High quality products at reasonable prices set the standard in this new industry. A stable of designers, in house and from outside, created these very modern items.

 

During the Specialty Line’s early production a copper finish on items predominated. But once Chase perfected their Chrome plating process, that became the most popular. And while many companies offered chromium plated items, their finishes were plated over rustable metals, such as steel. This lead to pieces becoming pitted and the thin veneer chrome wore off over time. Chase chose to use brass or copper, both non-rustable, as their base metal. Then nickel plating applied before finally applying a heavy coating of Chrome. As a result many Chase products look as good today as they did in the 1930s.

 

 

The Four Tube Bud Holder, pictured above, is a perfect example of adaptive use. Thin pipes of varying lengths were transformed into an ultra-modern piece. The main tube rising from the ringed circular base had the smaller tubes attached to it. Credit for this piece goes to the husband and wife team of William and Ruth Gerth. In reality it is most likely the creation of Ruth Gerth alone. Part of the Specialty Line for its entire run, it retailed for $1.25. Today the Four Tube Bud Holder is one of the more common pieces of Chase on the collector’s market.

 

Another pre-1933 Gerth and Gerth Chase piece is the Dinner Gong. Unlike the Four Tube Bud Holder, the Dinner Gong is not easy to find. Discontinued in 1933 its production life was only about a year or so. Available in copper or chrome it has a book value of about $160.00.

 

 

With The Glow Lamp of 1933, one can see Ruth Gerth’s transformation of a toilet float into a charming little lamp. Offered in copper, chrome or combination of half copper and white paint or chrome with black paint. Retailing for $1.25 ($26.00 in 2021) for copper or $1.50 ($31.00 in 2021) for chrome, they stayed in production until the late 1930s.

 

 

German immigrant, Walter Von Nessen, made his name by creating very modern lamps. Hired by Chase in the early 1930s, his designs for the company became some of their best selling items.

And like Ruth Gerth, Von Nessen readapted ordinary pieces in the Chase inventory to create strikingly modern items, like the Taurex Candleholders. For these Von Nessen took an ordinary curved pipe mounted and mounted it on a circular base.

 

The two style of the Taurex candleholders, even and uneven, introduced in 1933 were the most popular in the Chase specialty line. Like most pieces in the line they were finished in chrome and copper. The chrome must have been more popular as those are found more easily on the collectors market. This is also true of the uneven version, which Chase kept in production up to 1939. The even style was discontinued in 1936.

 

During the first couple of years of the Chase Specialty Line, Von Nessen designed a series of bookends. And like the Taurex candleholders, he created strikingly modern or whimsical pieces from the Chase inventory of pipes, rivets, ball bearings and other items. Because of their short production life, most of these bookends were discontinued in 1933.  Today they are hard to find and command premium prices. And rank high on my  Chase most wanted list.

Whimsical Bookends

Architectural Bookends

 

 

By 1933 chrome plating over took the copper and brass finishes and the Specialty Line really began to take off. Chase greatly expanded the line during the 1930s. Driving For Deco will be taking a look at the different aspects of the Chase Specialty Line in future posts.

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

SOURCES

CHASE COMPLETE: Johnson, Donald-Brian & Pina, Leslie; A Schiffer Book

ART DECO CHROME BOOK 2: Kilbride, Richard J.; Jo-D Books

THE CHASE ERA: Johnson, Donald-Brian & Pina, Leslie; A Schiffer Book