Sharing our collections was the purpose of the Aluminist when it was started more than 25 years ago and now notes and comments are again beginning to trickle in. Today's question concerns a tray depicting a 1939 World Fair building and the modernistic Trylon and Perisphere shown below. The question: Is this a souvenir tray or one made afterwards?
I know there are collectors of the 1939 World Fair memorabilia which does include numerous aluminum trays. Perhaps one will read our question and help us our.
Although there are pages of listing of World Fair information on the Internet I doubt if there is the information we seek.
As I have turned through my notebooks of saved letters and clippings along with sketches, I am amazed at how much information I have...some printable, some not. I read letters from the late Bill Knetch and return in time to the aluminum shows in Allentown and to the phone calls from Bill and the late Bob Cree and the long visits we had. I miss them so much.
Although this blog can never replace the personal contacts we collectors had through the shows, more comments are coming in and I'm hoping we will once more have a network of collectors sharing information and their questions. I may be wrong, but I believe that if you are signed in to this blog as a follower, you will receive a message alerting you to whatever comments are posted. I'm sure you realize that I could verify this detail with a bit of research, but after this post and all access to my blogs and even to creating a new blog disappeared last night and I spent hours navigating help and information fields, I am a bit tired of hunting information!
Thankfully, most of what disappeared last night, was returned a few hours ago, so I, and dozens of other bloggers can resume our postings.
Old Wendell August Motifs:
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| Unmarked spoon hansle identified by Bill Knecht as probably the Farge's work. |
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| Iris motif. |
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| Lg. tray in Sail motif and fish hook handles with portion of table stand (in auction catalog) |
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| Wheat |
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| Sailfish |
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Dannie, I have never seen the Worlds Fair tray...I wonder if there are more of them showing other scenes. Bob Cree had such an exceptional collection. I remember the very first show, and taking a deep breath when I walked into his booth. Now I wish that I had a good camera handy at that show. Does his family have the collection displayed anywhere?
ReplyDeleteSusan
Dannie - this blog site giveth and taketh away regularly. I'm kind of logged in permanently right now, but not until I redid it. Cannot get my photo alongside my comments, however.
ReplyDeleteOne needs to "Subscribe" to e-mail news feeds [comments] over and above registereing/logging in, which I am now trying out.
I, too, remember gasping at what I remember as a centrally positioned booth of Wendell August rare items at the '98 show.
ReplyDeleteThere were other World Fair designs.I once owned a small tray with only the Trylon and Perisphere shown as its motif...as I remember! I have no idea who made it or even if it was marked. Imagine hunting it in my hand writen record of my inventory!
ReplyDeleteSeaneen, Doug Sutherland sent me pictures from several of the shows. I believe it would make an awesome post for this blog. There may be a shot of the Ovenmeyer booth and maybe of the booth you mention. Of course, in getting as much as possible of a display into a photo, the details are lost.
ReplyDeleteYes, the pictures would be awesome!
ReplyDeleteBTW, you will probably have better luck finding your other World's Fair piece in your paper files than I have had searching for a similar one [Trylon and Persiphere] - small, round about ashtray size - that I found about 10 years or so ago and set somewhere in my Aluminum "room" so I would be sure and find it again. Cannot for the life of me. It was stamped Everlast - the very early stamp, of course.
There are currently (as of 2 December) two hammered aluminum '39 NY World's Fair trays on a popular on-line auction web site (rhymes with freeplay). One has just the Trylon and Perisphere, the other has the Administration Building. Both are marked Everlast. Very cool design.
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