Thursday, May 16, 2019

When the USA made cool things like chicken drink coasters


Back when we truly knew how to party, we had these jazzy coasters to place our beverages upon. They were sold by the Rust Craft Greeting Card Company, which has quite the history — it involves a book store, the production of (possibly) the first Christmas card, TV and radio stations and, starting in 1980, a spiral of being subsumed by other companies as Rust Craft wound down and eventually went out of business.

I have no idea what year these 30-cent chicken coasters were sold. My best guess would be between 1965 and 1975. If we split the difference and assume 1970, that 30-cent cost equates to about $2 today, which is a lot for 12 coasters. As we see from the packaging, they were "styled by Brownie" and were touted for being drip-proof. The additional text on the back states:

"Soft and absorbent ...
wax backed for protection
designed for the
discriminating hostess...
"

It also tells us that these were made in the United States and that other products from Rust Craft at the time included plates, cups, napkins, table covers and party centerpieces. I'm sure those were also for the "discriminating hostess." Despite the poultry theme, these were for Serious Martini Conversations, not Timmy's Kool-Aid-Soaked Birthday Bash.

1 comment:

  1. These are fantastic. They could probably reprint them, slap 'em on Etsy, and they would sell.

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