Featured Tea company premiums - knives.

About 20 years ago I ran across these neat plastic knives in a local antique shop. They had hundreds of them. They were from the seller's father who had worked as a distributor for the tea company and he explained how they were given away as premiums. Naturally I have forgotten what tea company it was, but it was one of the major brands like Lipton, Nestea, etc. They were cheap so I bought a bunch and tried to get some of each color combination. These had to have been made when plastic was a novelty and were admired for what they were., a new and exciting material. I have seen photos of other everyday items made of marbleized plastic from the late 1940s, early 1950s. I wish I had written down the information about the tea company and how they were given away. Sigh. Has anyone seen something like this?

Dennis

 

Do you have any estimates, based on perceived age of seller, of how old his father might have been and when he might have worked for the distributor?

Do the knives have any tiny impressions or stamps on them? (Long shot...)

The colors remind me of the 1960s or 1970s -- but I could be wrong.

 

Why would a tea company be giving out knives?

"Slice up yer tea while its hot!" "Cut down on coffee; drink tea!"

 

I had a metal tray that was given as a premium by a soap company. Maybe a little more connected, but not much!

 

They're serrated too. Space Age steak knives?

 

I remember a 45 record in a box of powdered laundry detergent, in the 60s. Glen Campbell, if I recall.

 

Wow!!

 

LOL!

I remember in the 1960s/70s, my mother collected 12 place settings of flatware which were a local gas station premium.

 

Looking online I can't find a thing, which is surprising... I think they're cool. A better hunter than I will track them down. I have the vaguest recollection of these. I'm sure I've had one in my hands.

 

Similar, but not as cool as yours.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-PI...147794?hash=item48c7d320d2:g:b5kAAOSwubRXIU8f

 

Not the same, but hey, knife given away with tea (I suspect yours is more 1940s-ish):

https://dishsisters.com/2014/04/10/estate-sale-madness-2/

 

In the 1940s (per newspaper ads, no pics though), Lipton's Tea was giving away a free "fruit knife".

 

Kellogs was doing the same with a purchase of rice krispies, but they were nice enough to include "plastic" in the description.

 

I remember little bags of 5 cats eye marbles & little puzzles of the bar puzzle type that you had to position just so to get the 2 metal pieces apart, in cereal boxes.

 

Well, various companies gave away lots of other kitchenware. Depression glass and Watt Pottery to name two premiums. The Watt pieces are stamped with the company name and collecting them is a subset of the overall Watt collectors. Besides, don't you need something to butter your crumpets?
Dennis

 

"Plastic fruit knives" (COLORED! STAINLESS! WON'T CHIP! CUTS BREAD!) seem to be a big deal in the 1940s and I suspect that's what the OPs are.

But not committing to anything at this stage.

 

From 1951

 

I think they would be like INH said about being fruit knives for lemons for tea.

 

My lovely next door neighbors put together a set of pink depression glass serving pieces from back in the day when they were dating. She told me they would get a different piece each time they went to the movies.