KITCHEN COLLECTIBLES — REAMERS
Reamers are one of the fastest growing collectibles in America today. Also known to many as orange juice squeezers or juicers, reamers were invented over 200 years ago when it was discovered that citrus provided a cure for diseases like scurvy. The first reamers were all produced in Europe. Major china companies such as Bayreuth, Miessen, Royal Rudolstadt and Limoges produced reamers for some of the finer tables in Europe.
The first reamer, which was a hand-held reamer, was patented in the United States around 1867, after the Civil War. Next came the one piece reamer with a small saucer and a cone that was meant to fit on top of a glass. In the 1880’s a glass rim was added to the bottom of the saucer to help keep the reamer on the glass. Two-piece sets with measuring pitcher bottoms and separate reamer tops did not come along until the mid 1920’s.
The biggest boom for reamers came in 1907 when a a co-op named the “California Fruit Growers Exchange” was formed. This co-op marketed the name Sunkist to sell fruit to the east coast. Sunkist reamers were produced as a promotional item. Sunkist reamers were manufactured in a variety of colors, like green, pink, blue, yellow, black and white. White was the most commonly produced color.
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The first colored reamer was actually introduced in 1922 by the Fry Glass Co. It was called “Pearl Glass” and was so popular, it prompted the company to add colors such as pink, green, amber, white milk glass and finally jadeite, delfite and vaseline colors up through 1928. This prompted many other glass companies, such as Cambridge, Anchor Hocking, Jeannette and McKee to join the color bandwagon. They produced a variety of shapes and colors, with green being the most popular. Jeannette made the last of the well known glass reamers under the Jenny-ware line in pink, jadeite, delfite and ultramarine.
American pottery companies like Redwing, Corns China Co., McCoy, Universal Cambridge, Crooksville and the Hall China Company also produced several reamers. Even the Coors Bottling Company produced a series of reamers in coorsite porcelain.
By the mid 1930’s, trade agreements were entered into with the Japanese. This opened the door for a glut of Japanese goods, including reamers. The limited number of American pottery companies could not compete with the flood of cheap Japanese pottery reamers pouring into the U.S.A., and eventually they stopped their production of reamers. Also, in the 1930’s, the electric juicers became popular, taking a bite out of the glass and ceramic reamer sales. By 1940, the introduction of frozen concentrate slowed the demand even more, making the reamer almost extinct.
Reamers came in all type of materials and shapes, from round, square, oblong, triangular to figurals, such as clowns, animals and people. There are one piece, two piece and three piece reamers, as well as engraved, embossed, frosted, handpainted and reamers trimmed in gold and silver. There are advertising reamers, souvenir reamers and regular utility pieces. The number of once available reamers range to the thousands. Some collectors decorate with reamers, hanging glass reamers on the walls, placing them in glass cupboards, in the window sills and on most other available surfaces.
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