What is This?

[1930artdeco]

A friend of mine would like to know what this is for?

Mike

 

[Oscar Hult]

It is called a Monteith. It is used to cool your wine glasses.

 

[Shangas]

Hi Oscar, welcome to the Lounge

Presumably it'd be filled with ice or something, then, right?

 

[emigran]

Learn something new here every day...!!!

 

[Fading Fast]

Learn something new here every day...!!!

Yes and hard to believe I've lived my entire life without one. Kidding aside, it seems there were probably more "one-off" type of china items like this back in the GE than there are today. I think it might be a function of people (overall, obviously, some people still love it) cared so much more about china then than now or because there simply were less "other things" (TVs, computers, etc.) to capture a consumers attention.

 

[1930artdeco]

Cool, I learned something new. Thanks.

Mike

 

[vitanola]

Golden Era? Well, if one's "Golden Era" was the first half of the Eighteenth Century...

This form is scarce, either in porcelain or in silver. It was actually used to rinse wine glasses between different wines. They went out of fashion in the late Eigteenth Century with the availability of relatively inexpensive quality glassware. They were widely reproduced between 1890 and 1930 with the expolision of interest in things of our Colonial era and again in the Post-War period.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A lot of china in the Era was sold "open stock" -- you bought a basic set, and then you had a huge range of doodads to choose from to "expand your service" -- gravy boats, serving platters, demitasse cups, and things like this that most people wouldn't often use but which looked impressive stacked in a china cabinet.

 

[Fading Fast]

Just based on my small circle of friends - it doesn't seem like having "good china" means much to most young couples today. My parents were very poor when they started out in life, but between their two families and friends they did receive some "good china" for their very modest wedding. The impression I got was that this was an important thing for people to give a couple (my Dad couldn't have cared less, but respected that people spent good money on it; my Mom was touched, but the stuff still sits in the original quilt cases it came in and hasn't been out in over twenty-five or more years). Socially constructed memes change.

 

[Stanley Doble]

In the old days one of the ways you could impress your guests was with your lavish linen, china and silverware. Today nobody cares. But, how many people MUST have the latest iphone or electronic gadget and wouldn't be caught dead with a 5 year old cell phone even if it worked perfectly and did everything they need?

Times change, fashions change but human nature, not so much.

 

[skydog757]

My mother longed for a silver tea set for decades until my brother and I bought her one for Mother's Day sometime back in the 1980's. It has been proudly displayed in her china cabinet (under plastic so it won't tarnish) ever since. To my knowledge, it has never been used. Still, she absolutely loves it.