This first 8 oz. drinking glass has a lovely 1940sstyle lady walking her large Borzoi. I probably should have put a napkin in the glass to see the silhouette better but I was in a hurry as usual, waiting until the last minute to do the column. The Borzoi has a nicely detailed outline and the silhouette is on both sides. There is a matching pitcher to this glass but I have not been lucky enough to find one reasonable enough to warrant buying. Joyce Brandin (Nightsong) does have the pitcher but it’s hard to get hold of Joyce lately and I could not get over there to get a picture. The glass and pitcher are quite rare and a single glass could go for as much as $20, while the pitcher could command a price of $75

Here is a sharp-looking 6 oz. drinking glass with a stylized, or art deco, Borzoi painted on one side. I was lucky enough to find a pair of these and stole them for $4 each. I remember when Joyce Brandin found one and asked had I ever seen one of them before. I was quite jealous at the moment but figured sooner or later, I would have one too. Value on this rare glass is again $20.

The glass shown here is actually a shot glass, which is why it was hard to capture the entire painting. There are 2 Borzoi (one gold and one green) shown running on one side of the glass, with a butterfly and deco designs on the other. I found a set of these at an antique shop several years ago. The design was one I was not familiar with and I almost walked right by them but to humor myself, I picked up a glass and took a look, thinking they were horses. It’s hard to place a value on something you have nothing to compare with but I would pay upwards of $75 if I didn’t have them in my collection now.

While I do not know who the glass makers were for the previous three items, I do know that this cobalt blue ice bucket and matching glasses were made by Hazel Atlas Glass around the 1940s. I have seen the glasses either separately, with the ice bucket, or with another much more shallow ice dish and usually accompanied by a silver holder for the bucket and ice tongs. It is strange that a matching martini shaker was never made for this set. When you find the other Hazel Atlas cobalt blue items, such as the sailboats, the Dutch windmill or even the fox and hound hunt, they all included one. Or maybe they did make one but all of the collectors I know have no knowledge of one being made. This particular set wasn’t greedy with the breeds being shown and included a Borzoi, Boston Terrier, Pekingese and Scottie on it. They are the more common of the silhouette glassware but with so many breeds featured and collectors of each breed out there collecting, it is a hard set to own without paying an arm and a leg for it. The ice bucket alone can fetch $75, while each single glass still commands at least $15 each. The stirrers are just added for decoration and are the old celluloid deco canes with an attached harmonica. Does that mean everyone used to play the harmonica while drinking back then?

This next barware item (right) is a metal and glass tray with reverse painted silhouette of a Borzoi as the “center attraction” with fellow onlookers a Scottie, Airedale and probably a Boxer (because of the long legs), although, the Boston Terrier collectors claim it is a Boston. If you aren’t familiar with the reverse painting process, it simply means that the glass is painted on one side but the reflection or picture shows on the other side. This was a popular way to make jewelry back in the 20s. They would take a curved piece of crystal, paint a picture on the inside of the crystal, then a backing was put on it. When you would look at the front of the “bubble” glass, it would make the picture appear 3 dimensional. I do not care for the handles on this particular tray because they can sway while carrying something on it. Although the edges appear to be wood, they are actually metal. Not only is it difficult to find one of these trays, its even more difficult to locate one that hasn’t had the paint flake off and ruin the picture. Measuring 13" x 8", the value on this is around $50-$75, depending on the want and need to add it to your collection

Martini anyone? Many people thought that this clear martini shaker and matching ice chopper were the match to the blue cobalt glassware. However, the Borzoi here looks nothing like the silhouette on the blue set. The ice crusher is the same shape as one of the martini shakers but if you look at the shaker on the right, it is taller and has a formed shape at the top. The breeds featured besides the very deco-looking Borzoi are Scottie, Boston Terrier and Pekingese. The ice crusher is the hardest to fi nd, although you can buy any of these type glasses with an ice crusher and simply replace the top. These sell at different prices depending on the collector and need to have it. A good price would be around $35.

 This is a busy photo but I wanted to get all the different sized glasses in the picture and still be able to show you the highly elusive Kool-Aid Kid-type pitcher. Can’t you just picture the smiley face of the Kool- Aid Kid on this pitcher? These are the same silhouettes as shown on the martini shakers and ice crusher. The matching glasses vary in size from a small juice glass to a tall 8 oz. drinking glass. The juice glass on the right shows the Borzoi silhouette in red rather than the usual white. The tallest glass has the Borzoi as white but the collar is blue, probably done like that to break up the monotony of the black and white. In one of the glasses, I am also showing 2 of my glass stirrers with Borzoi heads; one clear and one red and, as you can see in the pitcher, I have 2 of the Wolfschmidt Vodka plastic stirrers that have a perfectly shaped Borzoi as the handle. The clear glasses in any size are very hard to find and could go for up to $20 each. The pitcher is the rarest of all items shown and is the only one I have ever seen or heard of but that doesn’t mean it was the only one made, just that either people aren’t getting rid of them, or many broke through the years, making them impossible to find. I place a value on this pitcher of $150 but still wouldn’t part with it for that much.

That wraps up another Unique Zoitiques column for this quarter. You never know what I will select for the next issue (neither do I), so stay tuned for another treasure hunt for Borzoi. In the meantime, I hope your summer is safe and happy!§