Reamer Collectors
If you collect reamers, consider joining the NRCA (National Reamer Collectors Association).
The NRCA used to have its own website, reamers.org, but no longer. (The old site was archived by the Wayback Machine.) Now they have a private facebook page instead.
Some explanatory text about reamers from their old website:
I have an old glass reamer — a family hand-me-down. I didn't know it was called a reamer, nor that it was something people might collect.
The NRCA used to have its own website, reamers.org, but no longer. (The old site was archived by the Wayback Machine.) Now they have a private facebook page instead.
Some explanatory text about reamers from their old website:
Reamers, also known to many as orange juice squeezers or juicers, are one of the fastest growing collectibles in America today. The main reason for this is time and efficiency. They have been replaced by electric juicers which perform the function of squeezing juice faster, and frozen concentrate which makes providing juice to a busy family in today's society an easier task.
The reamers were invented over 200 years ago out of necessity when it was discovered that citrus provided a cure for diseases like scurvy. The first reamers were all producted 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 was patented in the United States around 1867, after the Civil War. It was a hand held reamer. Next came the one piece reamer with a small saucer and a cone that was meant to fit on top of a glass. These were quite messy as they slid and slipped off of the glass. In the 1880's a glass rim was added to the bottom of the saucer to help keep the reamer on the glass. Around the same time, wooden squeezers with a press action were also being used. 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. However, not until 1916 when the "Drink an Orange" campaign was launched, were reamers marketed to the masses.
The reamers were invented over 200 years ago out of necessity when it was discovered that citrus provided a cure for diseases like scurvy. The first reamers were all producted 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 was patented in the United States around 1867, after the Civil War. It was a hand held reamer. Next came the one piece reamer with a small saucer and a cone that was meant to fit on top of a glass. These were quite messy as they slid and slipped off of the glass. In the 1880's a glass rim was added to the bottom of the saucer to help keep the reamer on the glass. Around the same time, wooden squeezers with a press action were also being used. 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. However, not until 1916 when the "Drink an Orange" campaign was launched, were reamers marketed to the masses.
I have an old glass reamer — a family hand-me-down. I didn't know it was called a reamer, nor that it was something people might collect.
Comments
I used to wear one of those in the Navy, or at least thats what my brother who was in the Air Force said.
Posted by F.U.D in Stockholm on 03/03/23 at 09:44 AM
Mom had a few of these as curiosity pieces on a shelf in the kitchen. It was many years later that I found out what they were used for and how valuable they could be. They are now gone into the mists of time.
Posted by KDP on 03/03/23 at 05:46 PM
They can have my old 1970s yellow-and-white plastic one, if they'll pay me for it. I'll squeeze my limes by hand, as I've always done.
Posted by Richard Bos on 03/04/23 at 11:09 AM
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Category: Collectors