Hello Again
I have for some weeks now been bereft of any creative energy, hence my long absence. I have not even had the wherewithal to check in and read my favorite blogs from time to time and comment, which I feel terrible about because so many people are so great about leaving comments and kind encouragement to me. (I must confess to following and commenting on Silkstone’s Open Salon excellent recaps of TV’s Mad Men series.)
At any rate, I thought that I might at least check in and stay for coffee and dessert.
Pictured here is my favorite vintage coffee pot. I collect them. This one is a Manning Bowman manufactured in 1948. Isn’t it gorgeous? This is the model that got me hooked. I found one back in 1978 at a garage sale in Albuquerque, NM. That one has long since worn through all of its fusable links and no longer makes coffee, but through the wonder of ebay I found a replacement and some spare parts, as well as, a number of others to add to my collection.
How about that round glass globe at the top? And a wooden handle? The beauty of these pots is that they were made before the technology that automatically shuts them off. You determine when the coffee is ready by the timing between perks, the color in the globe and the aroma – and oh what an aroma! Then of course you must unplug the pot, lest this sweet little appliance keeps on perking until it burns right through its 1940 fuse technology.
When ready, that lovely spout pours a cup of great, piping hot coffee. The orbal beauty produces about 4 cups of the daintier size pictured here or about 2 1/2 cups of a standard mug size if you’re a mug person. I attribute the quality and taste to the metal and the fact that it can perk hot enough to really break down the oils. These pots are made of something called chromium and it holds its shine without polishing – a little wiping with lighter fluid now and again. I find the lines and curves of these pots exquisite. I think that they are the coffee pot equivalent of a 67 Chevy. If I were more technically adept, I might do some clever photographic rendering – such is not my lot. I leave it to your imaginations.
The only down side to these pots is the very same thing that makes them so charming: the electrical appliance technology at the time of their manufacture. Their fuses only last so long and as of yet I have found no way to replace them except to scrapyard them off other perculators if I can find a match. There must be some clever inventor type out there who could figure out a way to keep these babies perking for life. If anyone fits the bill, let me know!
October 20th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
DEAR A-MUSE-ING:
What a great return to blog consciousness. The model of maker you gave us for our 25th wedding anniversary! The finest silverish thing I ever got. The brewer of elixir that brings me up, and takes me down, submerged,a submursible, like the diving bell I think of everytime we use it, which is often!
Yes, the Terry-bell has been heralded in the Sewer Raccoon News. http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/search?q=diving+bell
Going up, going down,
David Dix
Thanks for everything!
October 21st, 2009 at 8:50 am
I had an eye opening look at the coffee pot–its a beauty. I love the way you put into words the grace of it. Hello again love, Peggy
October 21st, 2009 at 9:09 am
I know how much you love the brown elixir served in a fine china cup but what is with the white cake
October 21st, 2009 at 9:43 am
May – it was a lemon torte that called to my stomach that particular day. It’s good once in a while to experience something other than chocolate! xxxooo
Tay
October 21st, 2009 at 9:40 pm
You make me want to consider collecting coffee pots, too! I wish I could explain my hat collection and passion like you do for your coffee pots.
I love you!
November 30th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
[...] So it is and here I am today with 3 more gleaming examples of a perfect marriage between form and function. Actually, the small one in the middle is sort of a repeat. It is the same model as one featured in a previous post, except that it is non-functioning. I include it because this is the one that got me started. This is the one that I found at a garage sale in Albuquerque, NM in the late 1970’s. I mean, have you ever seen a round globe coffee pot before with a round glass bubble at top? I hadn’t and the perfect symmetry coupled with that charming wooden handle just had me at “hello.” And once I got it home, I found that it still worked and it made fabulous coffee for several years until its vintage circuitry could carry on no longer. Now if you want to read how damn good the coffee is from one of these, I covered that previously here. [...]