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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1939

  • Work on this object began.

2025

  • You found it!

Cocktail Napkin, Wish Fulfillment, 1939

This is a Cocktail napkin. It was designed by Marguerita Mergentime.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It has been able to spend time at the museum on loan from Virginia Bayer.

It is dated 1939. Its medium is linen (six napkins), cotton (2 napkins- graphology, tea leaves). It is a part of the Exhibitions department.

Mergentime used an assortment of serif and sans serif fonts for these fortune-telling cocktail napkins, which must have sparked conversation and possibly even predictions for the future amongst guests.

It is credited Courtesy of Mergentime Family Archive.

Its dimensions are

L x W (brown palmistry): 16.2 × 19.4 cm (6 3/8 × 7 5/8 in.) L x W (green phrenology): 15.9 × 19.4 cm (6 1/4 × 7 5/8 in.) L x W (green fortune telling): 15.9 × 20 cm (6 1/4 × 7 7/8 in.) L x W (red crystal ball): 15.9 × 19.4 cm (6 1/4 × 7 5/8 in.) L x W (red numerology): 16.2 × 19.7 cm (6 3/8 × 7 3/4 in.) L x W (blue fortune telling): 16.2 × 19.7 cm (6 3/8 × 7 3/4 in.) L x W (blue graphology): 16.2 × 18.7 cm (6 3/8 × 7 3/8 in.) L x W (brown tea leaves): 16.2 × 19.4 cm (6 3/8 × 7 5/8 in.)

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318799216/ |title=Cocktail Napkin, Wish Fulfillment, 1939 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=12 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>