Tiffany Drink Straws

[silverly]

Hello, I'm looking for any background information that may be out there about these drink straws such when they were produced, the correct term to identify them and anything else that is available. The jeweler that retailed them was Frank R Ford Jewelry Co in Norkolk, Virginia (1910-1985). Thank you in advance.


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[dragonflywink]

I used to collect sippers, and most of my references are boxed up at the moment, but somewhere in my stash of miscellaneous information is a 1960s magazine ad showing this design.

~Cheryl
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[silverly]

Cheryl, thank you. Just going by the box '60's fits.
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[dragonflywink]

Responded on the fly (still rushing today), but should have given a bit more information. I'm 99% sure that Tiffany called these sippers, that term seemed to be in use from around the 1940s-50s. The late 19th-early 20th century catalogs and ads usually called them lemonade spoons. Can't recall seeing them from any other countries other than the U.S., Mexico and Japan, and believe that the foreign-made were most likely intended for the American market. Kind of curious if some of our other members see them in their countries. I think that yours are a particularly pretty design.

~Cheryl
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[silverly]

Thank you again Cheryl. I guess these are mint leaves at the end of the sippers. They're well done and maybe make a drink a bit more refreshing.
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[dragonflywink]

At the time these were made, believe they would have been marketed for iced tea more than lemonade, suspect that they were indeed modeled after mint leaves.


~Cheryl
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[dragonflywink]

A 1965 Tiffany ad offered these as stocking stuffers at $3.25 a piece, describing them as "Tea Leaf Sippers".

~Cheryl
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[silverly]

It appears your memory has served you correctly. Thank you for the additional information.

The box of sippers still sits on my computer's tower. Who would have ever imagined them ending up in such an odd place. I'd better do something with them.
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