Vintage Bookends Aluminum Foundry Workers Apex Smelting Company Chicago, Illinois, and Cleveland, Ohio ~ Advertising. These vintage bookends are in overall very good vintage condition. They measure approximately 6 inches wide by 5 inches tall. Apex Smelting Company was first Inc. in 1944. It’s likely the company was in business before they incorporated. I would date these somewhere around the WPA time frame. Please check out photos and judge overall condition for yourself. They shipped to the United States only with USPS priority mail.