Pictured here is a beautiful ceramic syrup dispenser from the Fan-Taz brand from the 1910-1920 era. What makes this dispenser unique from others, is the shape and style. If you look closely you will see the center part has stitching on it which mimics the stitching on a baseball! The brand claims at the bottom to be “The Drink of The Fans”. So it is entirely possible this brand was sold oftentimes at the baseball stadiums of the era?
It is known in the early 1900’s soda was still considered a seasonal drink, and the sales volume was much greater in the summer than it was in the colder months of the year. Soda was still a delicacy to many since it was more expensive to purchase than either beer or whiskey was at this time.
I do not know which company manufactured Fan-Taz soft drinks, but whoever it was, they probably didn’t last too long as the larger companies such as Ward’s, Hires, Howells, Richardson, Magnus, Mueller-Keller and Zipp’s dominated the syrup production segment for many years. Consequently, their dispensers are much easier to find by collectors today than this Fan-Taz dispenser is.