A beautiful vintage circa 1960 heavy silver plated champagne bucket on a stand made by International Silver for the famed Blue Fox restaurant in San Francisco, California!
In great condition for a piece that was used in a commercial environment for decades, there are some bumps and dings to the base edge of the stand. Plenty surface scratches and small marks you’d expect from old hotel silver that was used daily, there is some wear and discoloration to the inside the bucket due to decades of standing water but it’s still in beautiful shape. Both the bucket and the stand are marked as made by International Silver, the restaurant name and crest are marked on each side of the bucket and on the top side of the stand.
Measures approximately 26” tall by 12” wide at the base. This is made to stand on the floor next to a dinner table so seated guests can reach it, so it will be a little short next to a taller bar cart or tall table.
Some history of the Blue Fox:
17-year-old Mario Mondin came to San Francisco in 1929 from Venice, Italy. He started his restaurant career as a bus boy, then as a bartender at Bimbo Guintoli’s Bimbo’s 365 Club. He saved his money until 1942 when he had enough to buy the Blue Fox, named for a rare version of the white Arctic Fox, which had been operating on Merchant Street, directly across the street from the city morgue, since 1920 as a speakeasy.
In 1948, Piero Fassio joined him as co-owner/partner, and together they transformed the Blue Fox into a posh San Francisco eatery that attracted world celebrities. In the 1950-70s it was regularly listed as one of the country’s top restaurants. The restaurant attracted celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. Joan Crawford stored her own case of vodka there. One of the Blue Fox’s specialties was clay baking; such as vitello tonnato, pheasant baked in clay and strawberries Armagnac, or fraglanino alla Creta, boneless pheasant stuffed with wild rice and then encased in clay before baking.
In 1960, the Blue Fox was substantially enlarged and redecorated. Sala Palatina, decorated in gold, white and red, was one of the new dining rooms. The 30-seat Wine Cellar, in the basement, was very popular for private parties and gatherings, you can see our champagne bucket front and center in the 1970s postcard advertising the room that I’ve included in our listing.
After almost 6o years at the helm, in 1988, Mario Mondin retired, but members of Piero Fassio’s family continued to operate the Blue Fox until it closed in 1993.
