With its smooth walls of silver-plated nickel, geometric elements, and mounts of black Bakelite, this coffee set is a spectacular and quintessential expression of the early Machine Age aesthetic of 1920s America. It is one of three compact services designed by Jean G. Theobald—all of them silver-plated for cost-effectiveness—for an urban market, specifically targeting females with sophisticated, modern taste. Wilcox Silver Plate Company was a subsidiary of the International Silver Company of Meriden, Connecticut, one of the first American silver firms to embrace the modern aesthetic already en vogue in Europe.