Saturday, January 10, 2015

1/9/15 Goodwill Find: A Mystery Mad Men Bar set

So with Nick in Texas for his birthday, Sam and I hit up the thrift stores Friday night in his honor. (Right.)

For $7, I came away with a set I just couldn't take my eyes off of. It's still a partial mystery, despite my best research efforts, but it's spectacular, whether it's worth a fortune or not to anyone else.

It was originally a 14 piece set: 6 highballs, 6 shot glasses, a center ice bucket, and the brass and teak-handled cocktail caddy (to carry it all out to the pool or from the tiki bar to the table, of course). It's also a pretty good arm workout. It weighs nearly 10 pounds without ice or liquid added!



Three of the shot glasses didn't make it, but the remainder are in pristine condition. There are very few scratches in the gold, which makes me think this set has been in the back of someone's cabinets for a long time without use.


They are marked Utd. Glass, which was where I started the search to try and pin down an approximate age and name of the pattern. 

I didn't get very far . . . yet.

It is clearly mid century, likely mid-60s. I've found a few pieces online in different patterns with the same Utd. marking and most are labeled as "Mad Men" barware.

There is one ebay auction that has only the ice bucket for sale, for $50, in the same pattern (unnamed by the seller), in turquoise & gold versus my black and gold, but classified in the Hollywood Regency style. However, I'm not sure I completely agree with that, since that style designs are usually more glamorous than what appears to be a compass pattern surrounded by wheat. Or maybe that's just me.  You decide. Here's a quick rundown of the Hollywood Regency style markers.  








and, because this made me laugh...




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