chapter 364
Everlast Metal
forging history
10/5/2014
I think this "hand forged" aluminum bowl resided for years on the old Virgil home garage workbench holding miscellaneous screws, bolts, nuts, etc. Spent many hours in that garage. I salvaged it before the auction and kept it on my garage workbench for years. Just now I felt a need to polish it up. It had been oxidized and scuffed up but some metal polish made it look beautiful again. I'm holding it so that only the bottom is illuminated since the side walls are still fairly pitted.
A pair of Brothers-in-laws, Louis Schnitzer and Nathan Gelfman had both been experienced metalworkers in their homeland of what was then Kiev, Russia. The two immigrated here in the early 1920s were polishing and plating silver at their silver housewares business in Brooklyn called Western Silver Works, Inc. This became Western Silver Novelty Company but when the Great Depression hit they converted to the more affordable aluminum housewares forming the Everlast Metal Products Corporation in1932. There is a slight makers mark on the reverse side. This newspaper from 1938 advertised the bowls for about $2. On eBay you can buy one for $30.
The dish might have been an unwanted Wedding or Christmas gift or perhaps Mom just didn't want to use it in the house but I like the scene in relief with grape vines and what I've seen advertised as a Partridge. Sauterne wine and grapes compliment serving a meal of this game. Needless to say, it was not prepared in this manner at our house. But it was a pan fried favorite delicacy of ours during the fall hunting season. I had perfected the art of Indian stealth walking to sneak up on them thru the thorny blackberry bushes to where they were feeding under the crab apple trees. I'd blast them before they took off wildly into the air. Legal but perhaps a tad unsporting. They knew to shield themselves behind trees when they did take off making it so hard to hit them. Got rid of all my guns, but now brother is bringing me an old one so I can protect against the Jihadis.
I had previously sanded and polished up Dad's forged old Case hunting knife. Company guide indicates 1965 but I think it's older. He'd skinned so many deer the blade was all scarred up from hitting the bones. Photo is an appropriate setting since this is the beginning of small game hunting season.
Forging seems to be a recurring theme in our family since Dad spent his life at the factory and we had a little home made forge in our garage.
Now I'm wondering, is this just mere memories or was rubbing that plate a metaphysical mystical conjuring up of spirit? Psychometry is reading token objects and feeling the spirits. Is this my attraction to my coin collection?
aluminum collectibles ebay item
Russel Wright designer designer for Everlast in 1940s, once lived in Woodstock
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