Profile: Stephen Visakay

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Stephen Visakay has been a collector and dealer of cocktail shakers and bar ware accoutrements for over twenty-five years and has been named one of America's Top 100 Collectors. His collection numbers over 1,400 and has been featured in numerous magazines. He is the country's leading expert on these sophisticated and stylish artifacts.

On the question "Why cocktail shakers?", Stephen says:

-- "My Mother had one she received as a prize and kept it locked away in a breakfront. That shaker created such an impression on me that years later, when I saw one exactly like it at a garage sale, I just had to have it. I've been fascinated by the mystique and history of bar ware ever since."

Visakay's publication credits include: Antiques & Auction News, Collector's Showcase, Treasure Chest, Antiques & The Arts Weekly, Remember, and Bartenders Magazine. He is the bar ware advisor for Schroeder's Antique Price Guide and The Flea Market Trader, Collector Books.

His traveling exhibition of bar ware, Shaken, Not Stirred: Cocktail Shakers and Design, has been displayed at: The Seagram Museum, The Museum Of Our National Heritage, The Milwaukee Art Museum, The Montgomery Museum Of Fine Art, The Louisiana State Museum, The Museums At Stony Brook (Long Island) and The Bass Museum Of Art (Miami Beach). It will be on display at the San Francisco Airport Museum from March 1998 until November 4th 1998. It will continue to travel until 2001.

Stephen Visakay and The Webtender

I would like to say thank you to Stephen for all the information he has sent me. The T-shirt was cool!

His book

Vintage Bar Ware - Identification and Value Guide was released in July 1997. It is a really interesting book with more than 350 color pictures, patent copies and illustrations.