Tuscarora Stock No. 10 "Dance Hall Girl"

General
Listed in the 1900 Tuscarora price list as “No. 10, Round, twelve inches, picture of lady with hat, ten printings”. This tray marks the first appearance of the shallow pie shape with a concave rim. This is the only form and rim style in which this design appears. Although Tuscarora/Meek did a few of these it’s a size/shape more commonly associated with Shonk. This tray is discussed by Hager in relation to the rim, noting that it sports an elaborate rim typical of early Tuscarora trays and includes two large name plate spaces on the rim for advertising text. He asserts that it is quite rare, but in the intervening time more apparently have come to light, although to date his assertion that it “does not occur marked with a 10” still seems to hold true.

The tray also appears in Meek & Beach catalog No. 12 (1901) where it is described as “Tea Tray, No. 10 12 Inches in Diameter. Lithographed in Nine Colors. The Design is most attractive. The Size and Form of the tray Perfect. An attractive plaque for mantel or shelf, combined with all the merits of a useful household tray. Your name is printed in panel at top and business or address at bottom.”

Interesting that like Tuscarora #1, the number of printings was reduced from the 1900 version. It’d be interesting to examine examples to see if it can be determined which might be 9 vs 10 printings. It was priced at $18 per 100 vs the standard $25 per 100 for the oval and oblong trays offered up to that point, possibly opening the market up to smaller players than before.

Despite that this tray does not appear that frequently; perhaps the “dance hall” vibe was off-putting to non-brewers, although one would think it’d be more popular with brewers than it appears to have been.

Prices for this stock tray tend to be a little higher than contemporary stock trays from Tuscarora, both for brewers and non-brewers. In fact, the highest price recorded in our database is for a near-mint stock sample without any advertising text.