Among all the figural cocktail shakers of the great cocktail age, none is more celebrated than the lighthouse. Produced by the International Silver Company of Meriden, Connecticut, under its Meriden S.P. Co. mark and patented on January 11, 1927, the model takes its form from Boston Light, the first lighthouse established in America, and was made only briefly at the height of the era. An example is held in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The conceit is carried through with remarkable conviction. The tapering silver-plated tower rises past two pedimented dormer windows to the keeper's gallery, encircled by a freestanding double railing on turned stanchions above a run of portholes. The lantern room, with frosted panels simulating glazing, lifts off as the cap, and the domed roof with ball finial conceals the pourer. Filled and set on the bar, it is architecture; in hand, it is a working shaker of generous capacity. The shaker was made in two sizes, and this is the classic model 343; the monumental version towers over 20 inches and appears only rarely.
The model's fame has made it one of the most reproduced cocktail shakers, and later chrome and silver-plate copies circulate widely. The present example is an original of the period, bearing the correct Meriden S.P. Co. mark for International Silver, the model number, and the January 1927 patent date struck to the base.
This example has survived unusually well. The gallery railing, the first casualty on most surviving examples, is complete and true; the dormers and portholes are crisp, and the frosted lantern panels retain their original finish.
Condition: Excellent. Original frosted finish to the lantern panels. Gallery railing complete and straight. Plating bright with only minor surface wear consistent with age. Cap and pourer fitting correctly.
Height: 14 in.
Literature: Stephen Visakay, Vintage Bar Ware: Identification and Value Guide, Collector Books, 1997.
Among all the figural cocktail shakers of the great cocktail age, none is more celebrated than the lighthouse. Produced by the International Silver Company of Meriden, Connecticut, under its Meriden S.P. Co. mark and patented on January 11, 1927, the model takes its form from Boston Light, the first lighthouse established in America, and was made only briefly at the height of the era. An example is held in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The conceit is carried through with remarkable conviction. The tapering silver-plated tower rises past two pedimented dormer windows to the keeper's gallery, encircled by a freestanding double railing on turned stanchions above a run of portholes. The lantern room, with frosted panels simulating glazing, lifts off as the cap, and the domed roof with ball finial conceals the pourer. Filled and set on the bar, it is architecture; in hand, it is a working shaker of generous capacity. The shaker was made in two sizes, and this is the classic model 343; the monumental version towers over 20 inches and appears only rarely.
The model's fame has made it one of the most reproduced cocktail shakers, and later chrome and silver-plate copies circulate widely. The present example is an original of the period, bearing the correct Meriden S.P. Co. mark for International Silver, the model number, and the January 1927 patent date struck to the base.
This example has survived unusually well. The gallery railing, the first casualty on most surviving examples, is complete and true; the dormers and portholes are crisp, and the frosted lantern panels retain their original finish.
Condition: Excellent. Original frosted finish to the lantern panels. Gallery railing complete and straight. Plating bright with only minor surface wear consistent with age. Cap and pourer fitting correctly.
Height: 14 in.
Literature: Stephen Visakay, Vintage Bar Ware: Identification and Value Guide, Collector Books, 1997.
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