artnau

MUSTACHE GUARD

Inventor: Charles A. Steele Junior
Patent number: 927892
Filing date: Feb 17, 1909
Issue date: Jul 1909

Beautiful illustration for a mustache guard from 1909. At the time gentlemen would apply wax to help mold and shape facial hair. Of course this would cause problems when a hot drink was sipped, the steam would melt the wax causing it to drip into the cup and exotic drinks could stain the hair. Mustache cups usually had a ledge or guard across the cup, this model however is separate and can be clipped on to any cup or glass. During the recording of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, John Lennon drank his tea from a mustache cup. At the time all four Beatles were sporting mustaches and the record even included a cardboard cut-out mustache designed by pop artist Peter Blake.

the patent desk