Aristo

Aristo

Active during the 1930s, McCoy, Jones & Westlake, Inc, was an American import company from Chicago who imported their bottles and hardware from Czechoslovakia and sold them under the trade name Aristo. I have also seen Cambridge Glass bottles with Aristo hardware.

Chicago Tribune, 1935:

"Organization of the firm of McCoy, Jones and Westlake, Inc., by five former executives of Marshall Field & Co, manufacturing division and divisions of the wholesale business recently dropped when Field's decided to concentrate activities on goods of its own manufacture, was announced yesterday. A general importing and distributing business will be built around the discontinued lines with which the five men have been associated for many years. These include notions, leather goods, ribbons, scarves and neckwear.  

The new firm will open for business Jan. 10 in the Merchandise Mart where it has leased 6,000 square feet of floor space on the 11th floor. A sales force will be built around the firm's executives, each of whom will be a sales manager of his own department. Operations will extend to all parts of the country except the Atlantic seaboard. The firm expects to make a designing department for manufacturers one of its most important features. It will create glass container designs for perfumers.  

The five members of the firm have spent a total of 120 years in the employ of Field's. Charles S. McCoy, president of the firm, has been with Field's since 1896 and has been divisional merchandise manager for many years in charge of many of the lines now discontinued.  

Hugh O. Jones, vice president, recently passed the 25 year mark with Field's and has been manager of several departments under McCoy's general supervision. Edward G. Westlake, secretary, has been with Field's 23 years. He traveled a greater part of this period, being identified with much of the company's European buying and importing.  

Charles C. McLane, treasurer, has been with Marshall Field's for 32 years. He was associated with buying and merchandising notions, fancy goods, and yarn. Albert F. Johns, fifth member of the firm and a principal stockholder, was dean of the traveling sales forces in many discontinued lines and will concentrate on the sales end of the new business."

Drug and Cosmetic Industry, Volume 38, 1936:

"Marshall Field Staff's Company.
McCoy. Jones & Westlake, Inc., has been formed in Chicago by five members of the staff of the manufacturing division of Marshall Field & Co. Officers of the company are president, Charles S. McCoy; vice-president, Hugh O. Jones; treasurer, Charles S. McLane; secretary, Edward G. Westlake. Marshall Field & Co has announced that the new organization has been appointed sole selling agents for "Americe" soaps."

 Edward G. Westlake invented several perfume bottles for Marshall Field in 1934. The following images were patented. One bottle in particular strikes me as odd as it is a copy of a known bottle for the perfume Chevalier de la Nuit by Parfums Ciro. This bottle was originally designed in 1925 by Guy T. Gibson and was patented at that time. It was manufactured in France. I see that Westlake decided to copy this bottle which was then made in Czechoslovakia for Marshall Field. This bottle has been known to some collectors of Czech perfume bottles as a copy. The Czech bottle should be marked "Made in Czechoslovakia" while the Ciro bottle is marked "Made in France."

In the ads below, you can see four of the bottles that Westlake "invented" for Marshall Field. These are Czech glass.

In 1936, Edward G. Westlake went on to form his own importing company as evidenced by this label found on a 1930s Czech perfume bottle. In 1936, a newspaper article mentioned him taking a seven weeks trip through Europe, no doubt he was visiting Czechoslovakia to arrange for the perfume bottles to be made and exported to the USA.

Chicago Tribune, 1936:

"Edward G. Westlake has resigned as secretary of the firm of McCoy, Jones and Westlake to form his own business, specializing in imported perfumes and glass novelties, with sales offices at 367 West Adams Street. Westlake was with Marshall Field & Co for 23 years prior to the dissolution of the wholesale jobbing business."

Since Westlake was no longer part of the company and it was styled as McCoy, Jones & Company. Westlake passed away in 1942. In 1945, the McCoy, Jones and Company name was shown in a trademark for 'Coquette" celluloid hair pins. Business was still alive in 1950 when they took out a trademark for raincapes, rain coats, hoods and scarves. In 1956, McCoy, Jones & Co were a division of General American Transportation Corp.

The Aristo company concentrated on fine giftware, such as cut crystal and these were sold in high end department stores of their day. Aristo’s bottles are usually found with very simplistic designs, using gold enamel to create lines or rings around the perfume well. But every so often one can find a bottle with very elaborate decoration, as with other companies, gold encrustation was a popular element as well as abstract shapes in contrasting colors.

One of the rarer finds is the atomizer attached to a music box!

The Art Deco styles of these atomizers prove to be just as collectible as those by DeVilbiss and Volupte. Very rarely will you find an Aristo marked piece as these pieces generally were only marked with labels or hang tags. Aristo had a very distinct hardware style that is very different from other companies. One of the most interesting is what I term the "urn" top, which is in the shape of an urn!

Many bottles resembled those from DeVilbiss and it is important to check the base of the perfume for any acid stamps for Czechoslovakia or Aristo. Also check the collars for Czechoslovakia or any paper labels from Aristo. These paper labels often had the words “Aristo Genuine Bohemian Glass” or “Aristo Genuine Hand Cut Crystal Made in Czecho-Slovakia“. I have also seen a rare powder jar with original Aristo label. I have also seen pieces marked with "Ariston" in some old catalog pages, which I believe is a spelling error.

A 1928 advertisement for the Boggs & Buhl Department Store in the Pittsburgh Press newspaper reads:

"Aristo Perfume Spray, its smart $1.19. New design, delicate, dainty and aristocratic. Clear glass in green amber, blue - slender high stem base with web covered bulbs. special $1.19."