Silver-plated 18-piece airplane traveling bar by J.A. Henckels of Solingen, Germany, registered under the Deutsches Reichs-Gebrauchs-Muster (D.R.G.M.) mark and dating to circa 1928 — one of the most ingenious objects produced by the golden age of cocktail culture, combining the period's fascination with aviation and modernity into a fully functional traveling bar service of exceptional quality and completeness.
The fuselage opens to reveal a dedicated decanter for spirits; the detachable wings serve as hip flasks; the wheel well conceals four stirring spoons; the tail unscrews as a sugar or dried fruit cup; the nose houses a juicer with a strainer; four gilt-interior shot cups, a corkscrew, and a funnel complete the service. Every element of the aircraft's form has been pressed into function. Nothing is decorative that is not also useful.
The spherical cockpit, swept monoplane wings, spinning two-blade propeller, and fixed undercarriage with disc wheels produce a silhouette of unmistakable authority — the visual language of the inter-war aviation age rendered in miniature and mirror-polished to a finish that has lost nothing of its original brilliance.
J.A. Henckels, founded in Solingen in 1731, understood the cocktail hour not merely as a social ritual but as an occasion for design at its most ambitious. The set is complete, retaining all 18 original components in excellent condition. The present example is silver-plated, the more desirable finish, as distinct from the chrome-plated variant illustrated in Visakay.
Marks: D.R.G.M. Germany, stamped on the propeller blade and undercarriage.
Dimensions: Wingspan 12 in. (30.5 cm); length 12 in. (30.5 cm).
Literature: Stephen Visakay, Vintage Bar Ware, Collector Books, 1997, p. 50 (this model illustrated); Simon Khachadourian, The Cocktail Shaker, Philip Wilson Publishers, 2000 (this model illustrated).
Silver-plated 18-piece airplane traveling bar by J.A. Henckels of Solingen, Germany, registered under the Deutsches Reichs-Gebrauchs-Muster (D.R.G.M.) mark and dating to circa 1928 — one of the most ingenious objects produced by the golden age of cocktail culture, combining the period's fascination with aviation and modernity into a fully functional traveling bar service of exceptional quality and completeness.
The fuselage opens to reveal a dedicated decanter for spirits; the detachable wings serve as hip flasks; the wheel well conceals four stirring spoons; the tail unscrews as a sugar or dried fruit cup; the nose houses a juicer with a strainer; four gilt-interior shot cups, a corkscrew, and a funnel complete the service. Every element of the aircraft's form has been pressed into function. Nothing is decorative that is not also useful.
The spherical cockpit, swept monoplane wings, spinning two-blade propeller, and fixed undercarriage with disc wheels produce a silhouette of unmistakable authority — the visual language of the inter-war aviation age rendered in miniature and mirror-polished to a finish that has lost nothing of its original brilliance.
J.A. Henckels, founded in Solingen in 1731, understood the cocktail hour not merely as a social ritual but as an occasion for design at its most ambitious. The set is complete, retaining all 18 original components in excellent condition. The present example is silver-plated, the more desirable finish, as distinct from the chrome-plated variant illustrated in Visakay.
Marks: D.R.G.M. Germany, stamped on the propeller blade and undercarriage.
Dimensions: Wingspan 12 in. (30.5 cm); length 12 in. (30.5 cm).
Literature: Stephen Visakay, Vintage Bar Ware, Collector Books, 1997, p. 50 (this model illustrated); Simon Khachadourian, The Cocktail Shaker, Philip Wilson Publishers, 2000 (this model illustrated).
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