Coffee, Tea and Sugar & Creamer Sets from The Chase Specialty Line

2 Replies
Chase Brass & Copper logo.

Chase Brass & Copper logo. Image from a 1934 advertisement.

 

No 1930s hostess would consider her service set complete without a coffee set. And the Chase Specialty line offered several coffee and tea sets from 1932 – 1942.

 

Diplomat Coffee Set

1932 – 1941

 

Here is an aid to brilliant entertaining. Of marked individuality in the design by Von Nessen, the coffee pot, sugar and creamer come in polished chromium or polished copper with white tinned lining inside. The handles and knobs are of composition in a highly polished black finish. – 1933 Chase Catalog.

 

The 1933 Diplomat Coffee Service, designed by Walter Von Nessen.

Walter Von Nessen’s 1933 Diplomat Coffee Service. From the collection of the author.

Shortly after the Chase Specialty line began, their first coffee set hit the shelves in 1932. A Walter Von Nessen (1889 – 1943) design, the Diplomat Coffee Set is one of the most sought after Chase sets. Legend has it that Von Nessen’s inspiration for the set came when he spotted some fluted pipes lying around the Chase plant. Out of this came the Diplomat Coffee service, the most elegant of the Chase coffee set.

 

Diplomat Sugar and Creamer.

Diplomat Sugar and Creamer. From the collection of the author.

At the introduction of the set in 1932 the handles on the coffee pot and creamer were wood. But soon thereafter they were changed to black Bakelite.

 

The Diplomat Coffee Set.

The three piece Diplomat Coffee Set. From the collection of the author.

Retailing at a hefty $15.00 ($316.51 in 2021) for the three piece set, it must have sold well. The Diplomat Coffee Set remained an inventory item until 1941. But even with its nine year production life, this set is not easy to find today and will cost a collector a fair bit of change to acquire one. And sets in copper are even harder to find than the chrome ones.

 

Breakfast Set

1934 – 1939

The Gerths designed this three-piece set of semi-spherical design, one of the most popular of Chase Specialities. The brilliance of the highly polished sugar bowl and creamer is set off by the black handles. An etched design decorates the tray. – 1934 Chase Catalog.

 

Chase Specialty Line Breakfast Set. Designed by Gerth and Gerth.

Gerth & Gerth’s Breakfast Set for the Specialty Line. From the collection of the author.

The Breakfast Set with its semi-spherical shape and “Saturn Ring” was the modern way to serve sugar and cream in the mid-1930s. And with a retail price of $3.00 in 1934 ($61.92 in 2021) this must have been a popular wedding, house warming or hostess gift, judging how many can be found in flea markets and antique malls today. Starting in 1937 the set was available with white as well as the black handles.

 

Individual Coffee Set

1936 – 1942

This charming three-piece set will appeal strongly to those who breakfast in bed and it is a convenience for the invalid. The cream pitcher fits on top of the coffee pot, and the sugar bowl fits on the pitcher, saving space on the serving tray. – 1942 Chase Catalog.

 

The Individual Coffee Set with the chrome pieces stacked. Designed for the Chase Specialty Line by Russel Wright.

Russel Wright’s Individual Coffee Set, stacked. From the collection of the author.

Russel Wright, designed pieces for convenience and ease of living, and this set certainly provides that. Everything is here for a single cup of morning coffee, with the sugar bowl and creamer stacked on top of the coffee container. Retailing for a reasonable $3.00 in 1942 ($50.91 in 2021) the Individual Coffee Set had a relatively long production life. But it is not too easily found today at prices lower than $50.00 and they often go for over $100.00. Unlike the white plastic used on the Coronet and Comet Coffee Sets the Individual Coffee Set features handles and a knob made of Catalin. These have darkened to a pleasing butterscotch color but were white when new.

 

The components of the Chase Individual Coffee Set, unstacked.

The Individual Coffee Set’s components unstacked. From the collection of the author.

One thing to note when buying an Individual Breakfast Set, is to check for stress splits on the sides of the components. These cracks will definitely decrease its value.

 

Sugar Sphere

1937 – 1941

Sphere Pitcher

1937 – 1939

Sugar Sphere and Sphere Pitcher, designed by Russel Wright.

Russel Wright’s Sugar Sphere and Sphere Pitcher. From the collection of the author.

Here are two pieces that are not that easy to find in today’s collector’s market and not designed by Walter Von Nessen, but by Russel Wright. These pieces are typical of Wright’s Chase aesthetic using spherical shapes, like his cocktail ball or corn and pancake set. The Sphere pitcher features a ribbed handle made of Catalin.

 

Comet Coffee Maker Service

1938 – 1942

The “Comet” is a beautifully designed coffee set consisting of an electric percolating coffee maker, and a matching sugar and creamer and tray. The shape of the electric coffee maker is a pleasing change from the ordinary cylinder types. The quick-heating Coffee Maker starts the coffee “perking” a few seconds after it is plugged in. It holds about 7 cupfuls, and it makes its full capacity of coffee in about 12 minutes. – 1942 Chase Catalog.

 

Chase Comet Coffee Service.

Chase Comet Coffee Service. From the collection of the author.

A complete Comet Coffee service (Coffee pot, sugar & creamer and tray) retailed in 1942 for $14.50 ($246.05 in 2021). While costly, it was on the more reasonable side of expensive. The Comet Coffee pot as a stand alone or the entire set seems to have been popular, judging by the relative ease it is to find it in antique stores, flea markets and online today. The spherical coffee pot is another Von Nessen creation. The white plastic handle is striking against the chrome and the flared base and the etched lines along the bottom half gives the coffee pot a streamlined appearance. The entire set comprised  of the coffee pot, the Kent Sugar and Creamer and the Ring Tray. The Ring Tray, designed by Harry Laylon (1911 – 1997), introduced in 1936 stayed in their inventory to the end of the line. There is no designer credited for the Kent Sugar and Creamer (1938 – 1942). They match the Comet Coffee pot exactly. It is possible that Chase used an in house employee to design them to complete the set.

Comet Tea Kettle

1938 – 1942

Along with the Comet Coffee Pot, Chase also offered two versions of the Comet Tea Kettle, an electric one and a standard one. The tea kettle had the same style etched lines around the lower half of its body, but no flared base. Its white, plastic handle arched over the top of the pot, unlike the coffee pot’s side handle.

 

Electric Comet Kettle, Spherical Creamer and Sugar Shaker.

Electric Comet Kettle with the Spherical Creamer and Sugar Shaker. From the collection of the author.

 

Coronet Coffee Service

1938 – 1942

 

Chase Coronet Coffee Urn and Kent Sugar and Creamer.

Chase Coronet Coffee Urn and Kent Sugar and Creamer. From the collection of the author.

When many cups of coffee are needed for meals, buffet parties, bridge or club meetings, this beautiful percolating urn will make 18 cupfuls. And with the percolating basket removed, it will store an additional 7 cupfuls, and server 25 people. The urn has a well-type heating unit that gives “high heat” for making coffee, and “low heat” for keeping it piping hot, so it can be served at any time later during the party. A switch is simply tripped to change from one heat to the other.  – 1942 Chase Catalog.

 

Eliel Saarinen silverplate tea urn.

Eliel Saarinen Tea Urn loaned to the Cooper Hewitt from the Dallas Museum of Art for 2017 Jazz Age Exhibit. Image from cooperhewitt.org.

It seems that some of Von Nessen’s design for the Coronet Coffee Urn derived from Eliel Saarinen’s Tea Urn of 1934. Both feature spherical containers and side handles, but Von Nessen made his design practical and easy to mass produce. Non tarnishing chrome replaced the silver plate and a solid fluted base, similar in look to the Diplomat Coffee set, was used instead of a vented one. And the Coronet Coffee Urn featured an electrical heating unit and not an open flame alcohol burner.

 

The complete Chase Coronet Coffee Service.

Complete Chase Coronet Coffee Service, with urn, sugar and creamer and tray. Photo from the Art Institute of Chicago.

A complete Coronet Coffee Service featured the urn, the Kent Sugar and Creamer and the Festivity Tray. The Festivity Tray, a Harry Laylon, design joined the Chase line in 1937. While Walter Von Nessen’s Coronet Coffee Urn and Kent Sugar and Cream became available in 1938. These pieces stayed in production until the World War II brought and end to the Chase Specialty Line.

At a retail price of $27.95 in 1938 ($543.76 in 2021), this set was expensive. The urn alone cost $19.95 ($388.12 in 2021). But it must of sold fairly well, judging how many seem to be in the collector’s market and in museum collections today. One thing to be aware of when buying one today are cracks in the plastic base. These stress fractures were probably caused by heat. The cracks do not detract from the value unless there are many of them or if they are severe.

 

Chase Coronet Coffee Urn.

Chase Coronet Coffee Urn, with heat stress crack in the plastic base. From the collection of the author.

These sets certainly brightened many a breakfast, tea time or dinner party during the dark days of the depression. And they certainly add a nice touch to a present day Art Deco style kitchen or  dining room.

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

 

SOURCES

The Complete Chase – Donald-Brian Johnson & Leslie Piña

The Chase Era 1933 and 1942 Catalogs of the Chase Brass & Copper Co. – Donald-Brian Johnson & Leslie Piña

Chase Catalogs 1934 and 1935 Catalogs – Donald-Brian Johnson & Leslie Piña

Art Deco Chrome Book 2: A Collector’s Guide Industrial Design in the Chase Era – Richard J. Kilbride

 

Vanished New York City Art Deco – The Rebajes Jewelry and Gift Store

5 Replies

A few weeks ago when Chris picked up a couple small copper plates from the Golden Nugget Flea Market, I did not realize the road it would take me down. The signature stamped on them reads “Rebajes”. I was unfamiliar with this name. One plate features two hands playing a guitar and the other is two pipes. Both are highly stylized depictions, very similar to the paintings of Stuart Davis. Stamped in each plate is a name / signature of “Rebajes”.

 

 

I never heard this name before, but some quick searching on the internet gave me a few answers. A self taught metalsmith and artist Francisco “Frank” Rebajes (1906-1990) was an immigrant success story.

Francisco "Frank" Rebajes in his shop, circa 1940.

Francisco “Frank” Rebajes in his shop, circa 1940. Photograph from transatlanticstudiesnetwork.uma.es.

Born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Rebajes immigrated to the United States and arrived in New York City in 1923. Struggling to find work, especially during the Great Depression, he began to create animal sculptures from scrap metal, using plumber’s tools. While selling these pieces at the Washington Square outdoor market Juliana Force, director of the Whitney Museum, discovered him. Purchasing all his pieces he used the money he earned from Force to open his first shop in Greenwich Village. A tiny store with a dirt floor and makeshift roof.

 

Rebajes Animal Jewelry

Selling all his pieces for ten dollars or less, Rebajes found success and he found it fast. And with this success he moved to a series of increasingly better Greenwich shops throughout the 1930s. Rebajes also expanded his inventory to include anthropomorphic depictions of African women and abstract forms. While copper made up the base of most of his pieces, he began to use silver and gold as well. By the end of the decade the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum featured pieces of his jewelry in their exhibitions. And the 1939 New York World’s Fair commissioned Rebajes to design several large abstract sculptures for the theatre in the United States Federal Building.

 

The 1939 New York World’s Fair

 

Workers carrying one of the Rebajes sculptures for the United States Federal Building.

Workers carrying one of the abstract Rebajes sculptures into the United States Federal Building. Photograph from transatlanticstudiesnetwork.uma.es.

 

U.S. Federal Building art and furnishings pamphlet.

Pamphlet cover for the U.S. Federal Building’s art and furnishings. Featuring one of Rebajes’ wall reliefs. Image from transatlanticstudiesnetwork.uma.es

 

Otto R. Bade and Mass Production

 

Otto R. Bade, circa 1941.

Otto R. Bade, circa 1941. Photo from rebajes.com.

Even through Rebajes was enjoying great success by the end of the 1930s, he still needed to overcome a major obstacle. He needed to find a way to mass produce his jewelry. The solution to this problem came in the guise of a young man from Nebraska, Otto R. Bade.

After visiting his grandfather in New York in 1940, Bade realized that he did not want the life of a farmer. So in 1941 he returned to Manhattan and answered one ad for employment. The ad was for a Rebajes workshop employee. At the interview Rebajes explained that he was looking for a way to increase production. So he handed Bade a favorite piece, the “Ubangi Face” brooch.

 

Ubangi Face brooch.

Rebajes “Ubangi Face” brooch. One of his most famous pieces. Image from transatlanticstudiesnetwork.uma.es

Rebajes told Bade, “see what you can do” and then left. Bade a self taught silversmith created some jigs to create the pieces. By the end of the day, Bade created 100 perfect examples of the the “Ubangi Face” pin. Rebajes, amazed and delighted, knew that his dream of bringing his “wearable art” to the mass public was now a reality.

 

377 Fifth Avenue

With the ability to mass produce his jewelry, In 1941 Rebajes decided to move his store to the premiere shopping district of New York City, Fifth Avenue. Nothing indicated his meteoric success more than this move. Opening in early 1942 his new store would share the same street as Cartier and Tiffany’s.  Located between 35th & 36th Streets and one block north of B. Altman’s, it would be a showcase not only for Rebajes, but for architect José A. Fernández. The Rebajes Jewelry store is not Art Deco. Its style was modern, so modern that is was shockingly avant-garde for the time. Fernández’s interior design was forecasting changes that would predominate in the 1950s, especially its use of biomorphic forms. 

 

Postcard view of the interior of the Rebajes shop on Fifth Avenue.

Postcard view of the interior of the Rebajes Jewelry and Gift Shop at 377 Fifth Avenue. Image from ebay.com.

 

Rebajes Jewelry Store floor plan.

The floor plan of the Rebajes Jewelry store at 377 Fifth Avenue. Image from New Pencil Points, February, 1943, Pg. 50.

 

The stylized Rebajes trademark greeted customers above the wide open vestibule. Lewis Mumford in his The Sky Line column in The New Yorker said of the entrance, “The street front, in grained marble, with a single abstract ornament of sheet metal above the side entrance to the building, is the soberest part of the design.”

Only a glass wall and door separated the store’s street lobby from the interior. A seamless transition from outside to inside was created by carrying the design elements from the vestibule to the interior. The gray marble facing the shop carried into the lobby to form the bulkheads of the showcases. In this open arcade merchandise is on display, partly in a quarter-circle showcase on the left and in two cylindrical glass cases on the right. The left showcase was accessible from the inside and in the warm weather, this became an additional sales space.

 

Rebajes shop outer vestibule.

The open vestibule of the Rebajes Shop on Fifth Avenue. Photo from Francisco Rebajes Facebook page.

 

The wall treatments of pickled oak, behind the counter on the left and mirrors on the right, carried onto the inside. The lobby floor of black terrazzo matched the color of the black asphalt tile of the interior.

 

Recessed incandescent lighting dotted the oyster white painted ceiling of the interior. The pickled oak carried out the entire left hand side of the shop. This wall was broken up a built-in, illuminated showcase displaying Rebajes’ larger pieces. At the rear of the shop a 14 1/2 foot tall, folding, blue leather door separated the shop from the stock / work room.

 

Looking toward the rear of the Rebajes shop.

Interior of the Rebajes shop looking towards the rear. Roman Cecilia photograph from The New Pencil Points, February, 1943, Pg. 50.

 

Additional color and visual interested came several potted plants and hassocks and built-in settee covered in black and white calfskin.

 

Showcase area near the rear of the Rebajes shop.

Calfskin covered hassocks in front of floating showcases and potted plants. Mirrors hang off the pickled oak wall. Photo from Francisco Rebajes Facebook page.

 

Calfskin covered settee and hassocks.

Calfskin covered settee and hassocks near the front of the shop.

 

But the most standout feature of the Rebajes shop had to be the main showcase. The “s” shaped counter did not raise up from the floor. In a bold move, architect Fernández suspended the counter from the ceiling by thin steel rods. Directly above the counter was a florescent light fixture that mimicked the same shape as the counter underneath.

 

The hanging "s" shape counter.

The spectacular hanging “s” shaped counter. Looking out toward Fifth Avenue. Photo from Francisco Rebajes Facebook page.

The "s" shape showcase counter and light fixture.

The steel rods and florescent light fixture are shown off well in the view of the counter looking up from the floor. Roman Cecilia photograph from The New Pencil Points, February, 1943, Pg. 50.

 

Nothing lasts forever, especially in New York City, and this was true of the Rebajes Jewelry and Gift shop. During the 1950s Rebajes was becoming more interested in sculpture than Jewelry. In 1960 he sold his trademark name and business to his one time master craftsman, Otto R. Bade. Bade already started his own line of jewelry, Orb Originals, in 1958. Rebajes left the United States for Spain, where he continued doing small studio work. Rebajes died in 1990. Today a nondescript gift shop occupies the space that once was José Fernández wonderfully avant-garde shop designed for Francisco Rebajes.

 

377 Fifth Avenue, today.

377 Fifth Avenue today. Image from Google Street View.

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