The Art Deco style may have originated in Europe, but Americans embraced it for everything from skyscrapers to soap dishes.
First Waterbury, then Chase
Art Deco buildings like the Chrysler Building and Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Union Terminal in Cincinnati, and most of Miami Beach needed lighting and accessories to go with this exciting new style, and nobody did it better than the Chase Company. Augustus Chase and other Waterbury (Connecticut) civic leaders established the Waterbury manufacturing Company in 1876. The company specialized in brass, turning out buttons, pins, upholstery trim, saddle and harness parts, and novelties. Augustus was succeeded by his son Henry who ran the company so successfully that by 1900 a needed rolling mill was built. The business continued to grow as the Chase Metal Works became a major supplier to the US government during World War I. Like many companies at the end of a booming wartime economy, Chase desperately needed to retool to peacetime production, and Frederick Chase was the man to do it.
Chase for the Home: High Design, Low Price
Frederick Chase mounted an aggressive marketing campaign introducing Chase products for the home, and by 1936, business was booming. The Chase Brass and Copper Company became one of the largest producers of high quality machine made Art Deco accessories and lighting, offering products such as candlesticks, smoking accessories, barware, serving pieces, and lamps. The products were sold in special gift departments called Chase Shops in Jewelry and department stores like Marshall Field’s and the Mays Company. Over the years, the company commissioned the best industrial designers of their day to develop new offerings. Walter von Nessen, Rockwell Kent, Charles Arcularius and Russel Wright all designed a variety of products for the Chase Company.
Emily Post, the Movies, & High Quality Chromium
Although Chase products were inexpensive, they were extremely well made, particularly their signature chromium finish. Chromium is a chemical element that takes a high poish and has an extremely high melting point. Coupled with bakelite, chromium was the perfect choice for serving hot food and beverages. Home makers loved its low cost elegance- the gleam of silver for little money and no polishing. Unlike its competitors, Chase chromium had a brass or copper base under the chromium plated surface. Using a non-ferrous metal as a base guaranteed that the chrome wouldn’t pit, flake, bubble or rust. Home Economist Emily Post endorsed Chase Company products in a 24 page book called How to Give Buffet Suppers that featured a host of Chase Chromium serving and heating products. Chase products frequently appeared on Broadway and in Hollywood films.
The Chase Trademark
The company acquired trademarks as it acquired divisions, but by 1928 management wanted a mark that was unique, that somehow summarized the company and would instantly call it to the mind of the consumer. Because they made such a diverse range of products, from consumer goods to copper rivets, the mark had to be universal. The Centaur mark was unveiled in the Fall of 1928, and advertising Manager Rodney Chase felt it to be a complete success. The centaur holds a bow and appears to be in the middle of a hunt, or chase. The Chase mark appears on almost every piece made after 1928, however, on some pieces the impressed mark is under the rivet that attaches the plastic handles.
Reference: Art Deco Chrome The Chase Era by Richard Kilbride Jo-D Books 1988
