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Showing posts with label ice bucket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ice bucket. Show all posts

Thursday, November 3, 2011

New corner, new look

Around here, nothing is set in stone, especially if it has wheels. I've moved my tea cart/bar again, and now it's home to a full set of Hellerware glassware to go with my Hellerware ice bucket and vintage martini shaker. There's even a spot on the bottom shelf for my Kromex tidbit servers.

For a while the cart was in my dining room, but I bought a teak corner cabinet to hold my Iroquois Harvest Time collection, so I rolled it to a corner in the living room. I looked longingly at the Hellerware glasses on eBay for weeks...maybe even months, because the seller kept relisting...and I finally made a decision to buy them. The glasses slip into a metal sleeve lined with cork, which keeps drinks cold and eliminates condensation.

The other day, I could tell that my Carter Brothers scoop chair wanted its old corner back, so the bar got shunted to yet another corner of the living room. To make it feel better about its vagabond life, it got to take the new Nelson knock-off clock with it. The scoop chair got a Kandinsky print as a consolation prize.

Now the bar is complete and in a permanent spot...or as permanent as things get at my house.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Bring on the barware

While visiting the Modish site, which is one of my favorites places to look at extraordinary glass, ceramics and metal, I spotted this beautiful Hellerware ice bucket. Imagine my delight when I found one on eBay the same day. The seller was accepting offers, so I submitted a number, and it was immediately accepted.

Posted by studiosmith on modish.net
Close-up of incised design on the piece I bought
ebay.com

This ice bucket was produced in the 1950s by Morris Heller and Sons, Inc., of Newark, New Jersey, and marketed as "Masterpieces of Elegance in Chromium."  It is lined with milkglass and topped with a slim teak handle. With its incised leaf design, I think it will be a perfect companion to my vintage cocktail shaker and modern geometric wine stoppers.

Vintage cocktail shaker with incised design
Modern geometric design wine stoppers

Additionally, there are Hellerware tumblers that match the ice bucket. The crystal glasses fit into a cork-lined sleeve that prevents condensation. The tumblers with plain chrome sleeves seem fairly easy to find on eBay, but I may hold out till I can find the ones with the leaf pattern like the ones below. I'm still weighing the pros and cons. On one hand, I'm not known for my patience, and I may decide I don't want to go so matchy-matchy. However, I think the plain sleeves would show fingerprints badly. Which would you buy?

Plain Hellerware glasses
ebay.com
Matching Hellerware tumblers
Posted by studiosmith on modish.net

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Hooray eBay!

I've been in an eBay frenzy for the past few days. There are several pieces I'd been watching that had the Buy It Now/Best Offer option, and I finally decided to make an offer on some of them. Imagine my surprise when the offers were accepted!

The Georges Briard ice bucket is from the 1960s and has never been used. The box even has a Green Stamps sticker on it. It cost 5 3/4 books, which was a pretty pricey Green Stamps purchase for a small item back then.

I also lucked out and got two great Raymor pieces with stickers still intact...a pitcher and matching mugs, as well as a footed bowl in two segments.

I'm still watching a few more pieces. When you're on a roll, who wants to stop?

1960s Georges Briard ice bucket

Raymor pitcher and mugs


Raymor 12" footed bowl in two segments