I can’t find a reference to Davidson ‘moonshine’ earlier than Murray either.
I have mild aversion towards some of the non-contemporary pattern names and colours used by American (and often other) collectors to describe Davidson pieces – ‘Richelieu’ for RD 96945, ‘Brideshead’ for RD 130641, Lady Chippendale for RD 176566, etc., and, of course, the ubiquitous ‘vaseline’ (notorious for its imprecision), so perhaps ‘moonshine’ should be regarded with the same quizzical caution, though it may seem over-pedantic to do so in some circles.
I simply regard Davidson so-called ‘moonshine’ pieces as having a clear, colourless glass body with milky or opaque opalescent white (or sometimes white with a mere tinge of blue) highlights, but would edge my bets in most descriptions by calling them “clear opalescent / ‘moonshine’” to try and keep everyone happy.
Firstly, a photo (© Barry Fuller) of a Davidson basket RD 130643 (registered 13 August 1889) that I would regard as definitely being in clear opalescent / ‘moonshine’. The clear part is very clear, with just the merest tinge of blue in parts of the opalescence.
Then, for comparison, a Davidson posy basket RD 96945 (registered 31 March 1888) that has a noticeable pale blue tinge throughout., though much paler than I would normally expect from Davidsons’s pale blue pearline. (© Alison Threadgold).
Thirdly, an oval Davidson dish RD 96945, similar to Paul’s dish but the opalescence is much more extensive – the clear bits are really clear, but the opalescence still seems to have a tinge of blue in places. I would regard these two oval dishes as being examples of clear opalescent /‘moonshine’. (© Jamie Ward)
Finally, a photo (© Rob Young) showing some Davidson RD 96945 pieces in a range of opalescent colours – the two pieces in the centre are definitely pale blue pearline, the oval dish on the left seems to have a definite hint of blue to the opalescence and to the clear parts too, and the oval dish on the right would accord with my understanding of clear opalescent / ‘moonshine’.
Perhaps the true clear opalescent / ‘moonshine’ opalescence was very difficult to produce consistently, and that sometimes a hint of blue crept into the whole of the glass body (though not so blue as to be really classed as true pale blue opalescent). Opalescent pieces are quite difficult to photograph so that the colours in the photograph accurately depict (or seem to depict) those as experienced when viewing the piece ‘in the flesh’ (and even then the ambient lighting and the background can have a significant effect).
I’ve looked through all of my Davidson photo reference files, and the only clear opalescent / ‘moonshine’ examples I can find are RD 96945 and RD 1430643. I can’t recall ever have seen unregistered Davidson designs in clear opalescent / ‘moonshine’.
Fred.