QUESTION: While browsing a flea market a couple weekends ago, I discovered a strange sort of glass bud vase on one of the tables. It seemed to be made of pressed glass and instead of having a foot, it came to a dull point at the bottom. The dealer had no idea what it was. I supposed it could have fit into a wire stand. Can you possibly tell for what this vase would have been used?
ANSWER: The object you saw at the flea market was an auto vase, an early car accessory. Before auto manufacturers first installed air conditioners in their cars in 1939, driving down a road on a hot summer day with temperatures in the upper 90s could be a challenge. In early automobiles, the pungent odor of battery acid mingled with the stench of the sweat from the passengers.
Car owners had no pine-scented cardboard trees to dangle from their review mirrors, and many desperately wanted a reprieve from the foul smell. The auto or car vase, a term coined by Henry Ford, seemed to be the perfect solution to the problem. As early as 1895, small vases, which held one or two flowers that emitted a sweet fragrance, became the first automobile air-fresheners.
The auto vase was a small bud vase with a bracket that attached it to the inside of the car, either on the dashboard or beside a passenger-side window. Vases came in many designs and colors, as well as in a various price ranges. Not only did they improve the smell, they also added a touch of elegance to the car’s interior. Third-party glass manufacturers made them from pressed glass, cut crystal, metal, porcelain, ceramic, and even wood, They then paired them with brackets that were often fancier than the vases, themselves. The fixtures could be made of silver or even gold plated.
The porcelain “blumenvasen” first appeared in the U.S. as an optional VW dealer accessory in the 1950s. High-end German porcelain manufacturers produced auto vases that could be clipped to the car’s dashboard, speaker grille, or windshield. This provided owners with the opportunity to personally customize their cars and often displayed either real or fake flowers.
Car owners could purchase auto vases in jewelry stores, auto parts stores, and from catalogs from companies such as Sears & Roebuck. Henry Ford was so pleased with these simple solutions that he offered them in his parts department and added them to his system of mass production. The service these vases provided made them a desirable feature to add to any car. With improvements in car batteries, air-conditioning became standard in many vehicles. But the majority of standard automobiles had them as an option which middle and working class people usually went without. They continued in general use until the 1960s.
When Volkswagen introduced its new water-cooled VW Beetle, the vehicle could be ordered with an auto vase-dealer installed, and as with the old Beetle the auto vase was available through VW parts departments.
Early accessory catalogs illustrated many different types of auto vases that car owners could purchase for installation in their cars.
Retailers only sold auto vases individually. If a car owner wanted a pair, he would have had to purchase two. It was common to install a single vase on a dashboard or center of the front seat back in open cars.
Auto vases used in an early automobile needed to be securely mounted. The majority of them had a top end that was designed to minimize splashing out their contents. Some even had lips that flared inwards providing an edge for water to safely splash against.
Separate brackets, screwed onto the interior of the car, held auto vases in place. To accommodate that bracket, auto vases had an area designed for the bracket to fit it. Most vases had a small "dimple" where a set screw attached to the bracket could be screwed tightly to the vase, securing them from road vibration. Some vases, produced without the set screw dimple, were designed for a style of bracket that held the vase tightly by simply gripping it tightly. There were also other styles of mounting the vases that included spring-loaded caps or something that firmly gripped the vase, holding it in place.
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