Description: The space shuttle set is the first condiment convention set.
- The salt and pepper shakers are booster rockets that sit on a cloud base.
- The mustard pot is the red-colored main rocket with the space shuttle attached to it. The nose cone is the mustard lid.
Shaker Manufacturer: D & H Studios
Number Manufactured: 600
Convention Theme: Shakin’ in the Sunshine
Convention Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Hosts: Florida Chapter
Original Price: $38.50
From “The First Ten Years, a History of the First Ten Commemoratives,” by Steve Justin in the February, 1997 Club Newsletter:
This is the first set issued as a condiment set. The chapter was given the task of what the set should be. Chapter member Jerry Fuller had sent a publicity flyer to the Newsletter with the phrase to wit: “Just blast on down to Florida.” Thus was born and then approved by a joint decision of the chapter, the idea for the Space Shuttle.
Chapter member David Himmelheber, a designer for Pratt & Whitney, made sketches and sent them to D & H Studios, in Palm Beach County. D & H made 600 sets, allowing a $2.00 discount for each because they were made in one order, rather than two, as some previous orders were made. (If the set sold out, additional sets could be ordered).
The base is a large cloud, in which the booster rockets – salt 1H & pepper 2H – sit. When the first sets were being assembled, the shakers did not have a snug fit. D & H revamped the mold, adding to the cloud, making for a better fit. The red colored main rocket has a space shuttle attached to it. The nose cone is the mustard, and may have slight color variations, is removable, and contains a spoon. The back is inscribed on 3 lines, “8th Annual Convention, Novelty S & P Shakers Club, Florida, 1993.”
The #1 set sold at the convention auction for $1550. Pre-convention cost, if picked up, was $35.50. Some sets were found in a storage locker in late 1996. However, they may have been sold by publication time. Otherwise, all known remaining sets are in private collections.