Anodised harlequin beakers
made in Australia and Hong Kong, c.1950s
The six cups on the left- from the vinyl maroon case- have never been used. Each cup is wrapped in its original tissue paper, and there is a bottle-opener installed in the cap. Research leads me to believe that this set was made in Australia.
Harlequin is a catch-all phrase for multi-coloured items- many of my 50-60s collections are ‘harlequin’.
The five cups on the right where manufactured in Hong Kong [it’s stamped on the base] –and in deference to its age/Asian origin, it is a set of only 5 cups. The bottle opener is housed on the outside of the vinyl case.
Both sets have the obligatory incised rings – these are machine-turned and date the cups to the 50s- a little bit of modernist styling.
All the beakers are in fine fettle, ~ still shiny and colourful aluminium despite their age ~ I suspect they have never been near a picnic. This set is for sale: $AUD75
re:retro 
I fondly recall sipping sweet iced tea from my grandmother’s similar set.
hi joanne….fond memories indeed. i remember fighting over the red cup- lemonade tasted better from the red cup!
I love the anodized aluminum cups! I always thought they were so pretty and bright. One of my mom’s friends had a set similar to this.
melody- you friend’s mum obviously has great style! the colours are so intense and shiney- retro bling!
Yes! I always thought she did. 🙂
I love these! So neat.
so do i- i especially like the vinyl cases with their zips. and concealed bottle-openers. perfect design.
Ah, the holy grail of vintage finds! We kept a set in my stepfather’s old yellow Volvo. I have fond memories, four of us squashed in the back seat driving to QLD, sipping from these at roadside breaks.
yes, indeed- the holy grail!
My grandparent still have these!
very, very cool grandparents!