Tag Archives: Blue Moon Cocktail Shaker

Chase Blue Moon and Doric Cocktail Sets

The Blue Moon and Doric Cocktail Sets

1935 – 1941

The Chase Blue Moon Cocktail set.

Blue Moon Cocktail set, with shaker, cups and Ring Tray. From the collection of the author.

The Blue Moon and Doric Cocktail Shaker are some of the most desirable shakers for collectors of Chase or cocktail enthusiasts. These shakers and sets are not easy to find and do not show up at antique malls or flea markets often. It is online or at higher end antique shows where one will come across them.

 

 

Reichenbach's patent drawing for the Chase Blue Moon Cocktail Shaker.

Howard Reichenbach’s patent for the Chase Blue Moon Cocktail Shaker. Image from Google Patents.

 

Like the Chase Gaiety Cocktail shaker, the Blue Moon Cocktail Shaker is another Howard F. Reichenbach (American, 1902 – 1959) design. Hitting stores in late 1935, the shaker shows how much the streamline esthetic started to influence design by mid-decade. This is emphasized by the rows of speedlines at the shaker’s base and around the cap. The two steps of the cap culminated in a blue ball stopper. Very early models of the shaker had a blue glass stopper. Shortly, a blue Catalin stopper replaced the glass one. These two original stoppers also doubled as a jigger for making mixed drinks.

 

Blue Moon Cocktail Shaker stopper detail.

Detail: Blue Moon Cocktail Shaker Catalin stopper / jigger. Image from cocktailshakers.com.

 

With an original price of $4.00 ($85.25 in 2022) the Blue Moon shaker would have been in the higher price range for many consumers. This might explain the relative rarity of the shaker today. Before the end of 1935 Reichenbach’s shaker was paired with Harry Laylon’s  (American, 1911 – 1997) Blue Moon Cocktail Cups.

 

Harry Laylon's Blue Moon Cocktail Cups.

Harry Laylon’s Blue Moon Cocktail Cups for Chase. From the collection of the author.

Detail of the Centaur logo  on the Blue Moon cocktail cup.

Detail of Chase’s Centaur logo on the bottom of the Blue Moon cocktail cup. From the collection of the author.

These cocktail cups are classic Art Deco. The cobalt glass cup tops a polished chrome, conical base and the combination is striking. These cocktail cups are among the most popular collectible of the Chase specialty line.  Originally selling for $0.50 in the 1930s (equivalent to $10.66 in 2022) the reasonable price might explain why they are easily found at flea markets and antique stores today.

On one of his many thrift store outings, Chris found a bag of them at his local GoodWill. Six in all, he only paid a few dollars.

Completing the Blue Moon set was Laylon’s Ring Tray.

 

Chase Ring Tray.

Chase Ring Tray, 1936 -1942, designed by Harry Laylon. From the collection of the author.

This tray is not all that easy to find. And it is especially hard to find one that does not have a fair amount of surface scratching. Originally selling for $2.50 ($53.29 in 2022) this versatile tray it was used  with the Comet Coffee service and with a glass insert and the jam jar.

 

1930s Chase advertisement featuring the Doric Cocktail set.

Late 1930s Chase magazine advertisement featuring the Doric Cocktail set in the upper left corner. Image from ebay.com.

Sometime in late 1936 or early 1937 the Blue Moon set became the Doric Cocktail set. A ribbed, plastic stopper replaced the ball one. New cups were designed for the set and the color white was offered along with blue on the stopper and cup bases. By the late 1930s the price of the shaker had risen to $5.00 ($105.06 in 2022) and the new cups were selling for $0.75 each ($15.76 in 2022). And the entire set sold for a hefty $12.50 ($262.66 in 2022).

 

These new cocktail cups match the Doric Shaker very well. Encircling the bottom of the chrome up are the same style speed lines that are on the shaker. And the plastic bases have ribbing that matches the shaker stopper.

 

Chase Doric Cocktail Cups, chrome with blue plastic base.

Chase Doric Cocktail Cups with blue plastic base. From the collection of the author.

At the beginning of this post, I said this is a hard to find set. And when you do find one, expect to pay a good deal for it. And whether it’s a Blue Moon or Doric set in white or blue, it doesn’t seem to affect the price on the collector’s market.

 

The complete Doric Cocktail set in blue.

Complete Doric Cocktail set in blue. Image from ebay.com.

 

The price of complete sets in good to excellent condition seem to fall in the $250.00 – $700.00 range. But I’ve seen some for sale that go much higher. One set, currently for sale online is asking $1,280.00. But it is in never-used, mint condition and with its original boxes. The shaker alone usually falls in the $75.00 – $400.00 price range. The prices for the Blue Moon cocktail cups are all over the place and they usually sell anywhere from $10.00 to $25.00 or $30.00 a cup. At the publishing time of this post, no Doric Cups are available on their own, only as part of a complete set or with a shaker. Within the last year I purchased a set of four for $40.00, but I realize now that is an unusual find.

 

The Chase Doric set in white.

A white Chase Doric Cocktail Set. Image from vintageswank.com.

Driving for Deco will continue with more Chase drinking and cocktail accessories in a future blogpost.

Happy Hunting,

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

SOURCES

The Complete Chase – Donald-Brian Johnson & Leslie Piña

The Chase Era 1933 and 1942 Catalogs of the Chase Brass & Copper Co. – Donald-Brian Johnson & Leslie Piña

Chase Catalogs 1934 and 1935 Catalogs – Donald-Brian Johnson & Leslie Piña

Art Deco Chrome Book 2: A Collector’s Guide Industrial Design in the Chase Era – Richard J. Kilbride

 

Weekend Find – Chase Ring Tray

Chase Ring Tray

The Ring Tray by the Chase Copper and Brass Company’s specialty line. A recent weekend find.

It’s been a while since I had such good luck at a thrift store. But that changed over a recent weekend. Chris and I feel that the best strategy for thrift store finds is to go often. Their stock is always changing so the opportunity for a find is good. I’ve been on the hunt for a Chase Ring Tray for several years. I last came across a one in a Massachusetts antique store in 2015. The condition was poor and it even had a crack in the rim and with a price of $40.00 I passed on it. Finally one turned up at my local Savers thrift store for only $2.99. This tray is not in perfect condition, it has a lot of surface scratches. But it is in better shape than the one I didn’t buy in Massachusetts.

 

 

The Chase Ring Tray, designed by Harry Laylon (1911 – 1997), was introduced in 1936. It stayed in production until the discontinuation of the entire Chase Speciality line in 1942, when the civilian use metals started to be requisitioned for the war effort. The tray had a retail price of $2.50, which is the equivalent of $45.00 in 2018, which seems pretty hefty.

 

The Chase Ring tray.

It is easy to see how the ring tray got its name.

 

The 1942 Chase Specialty catalog described the 12 inch diameter tray this way:

This round tray is a happy medium in size, neither too large nor too small for general use. The high rim keeps things from sliding off,  and the flanged edge is a continuous handle. The bottom has an etched design. 

 

Underside of the Chase Ring Tray.

The underside of the Chase Ring Tray. This shows the flanged edge that made for easy griping.

 

Originally Chase sold the tray on its own. Then from 1937 – 1941 it was paired it up with the Blue Moon Cocktail Shaker (Howard Reichenbach, Designer) and the Laylon  designed Blue Moon Cocktail Cups. I bought my first ring tray about a decade ago from Pine Hills Antique Mall in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. I used that tray to completed my Blue Moon Cocktail set.

 

Blue Moon Cocktail Set

The Chase Blue Moon Cocktail set 1937 – 1941.

 

In the years between my first ring tray and my next, I started acquiring the pieces of the Chase Comet Coffee service. At the March, 2015 Pier Antique Show in Manhattan, I picked up the Comet Coffee pot. Designed by Walter Von Nessen (1899 – 1943) in 1938, he also designed the Kent Sugar and Creamer, which I picked up the next year. Now the ring tray completed the set.

 

Chase Comet Coffee Set.

My now complete Chase Comet Coffee Set.

 

Originally retailing for $14.50 ($261.50 in today’s dollars) the coffee set now sells between $200.00 to over $1,000.00 (which in my opinion is way, way too high). And just last year one set  sold, in an online auction, to the one and only (and lucky) bidder for $35.00.

 

Chase Chrome

The Chase Comet Coffee set, 1938 – 1942.

 

Personally I like going out into the field and searching for Art Deco, rather than buying online. It’s finds like the ring tray that keeps me going back to thrift stores again and again. Bargains are still out there, so happy Deco hunting.

 

Anthony (A Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guy)

 

If you like this post check out these earlier ones:

Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Hunting Deco in thrift stores and junk barns