Calling all vintage cat collectors! Get ready to meet my the Norcrest Blue Cat–the most playful and precious set around! We’ve got a cute butter dish with kitty snoozing away on top, an adorable tea bag holder that will “Hold The Bag” for you, and even oil & vinegar cruets featuring the cutest little cats ever. Missing out would be simply purrr-culiar – don’t miss your chance to add this delightfully whimsical collection into your home today!
The Norcrest Blue Cat set is an absolute must-have for any ceramic collector! Manufactured in Japan mid to late 1950s and possibly early 1960s by the PY/Miyao company, it’s not as easy to come across these adorable kitty cat pieces – each one numbered on the bottom with a “CT”. Even luckier if you find them still featuring their original Norcrest foil label attached! These cats have been enchanting collectors since they first came out so do your best to get this elusive collection now before someone else does!
The Norcrest Blue Cat set consists of these 12 pieces:
- Teapot – CT-1
- Oil and Vinegar – CT-2
- Jam Jar – CT-3
- Salt and Pepper Shakers – CT-4
- Sugar Jar – CT-5
- Milk pitcher CT-6
- Butter Dish – CT-7
- Creamer/pitcher – CT-8
- Cat Bowl – CT-9
- Cookie Jar CT-10
- Wall Plaque – CT-11
- Teabag Holder – CT-12
- Egg Cup – unmarked, no CT number
- Tea Cup – mystery item?
The Norcrest Blue Cat collection has been rumored to have a secret 13th piece – an elusive tea cup marked CT-13. While no one’s ever seen it, we can only imagine how incredibly adorable the tea cup must be! Do you know any information about this mythical item? If so, please share what you’ve heard or even better yet send us photos of it! We’d be overjoyed if someone could finally confirm its existence and bring the full story together for all of us eager fans.
5 Tips for Collecting The Norcrest Blue Cat
- You will need to diligently search for pieces in this set. Because the set was not mass produced there are not very many pieces that come up for sale but don’t let that discourage you. Be diligent in searching if you really want to add to your collection.
- You can find pieces of The Norcrest Blue Cat on Ebay, Etsy, Mercari, and social media like Instagram and Facebook (Facebook collector groups are treasure troves so join them) The pieces that tend to come up regularly I think are the blue cat wall plaque, creamer, and sugar/jam jar, followed by the salt and pepper shakers. When I say they come up regularly I mean you can probably find them a couple times a year on Ebay and Etsy but again, you have to search diligently every day for new listings. Rarer pieces are the cookie jar, egg cups, bowl, butter dish and oil and vinegar cruets.
- Check for damage. The ears and the tail tend to get the most dings and chips. The necks on the cruet toppers tend to crack and the pillow of the butter dish gets crazing and dings and chips on the corners.
- When searching for the Norcrest Blue Cat use keywords like “PY”, “Miyao”, “Japan” in your search words and even use the key words “anthropomorphic” and “Kitsch” and even “Kitschy Cute”.
- Setup notifications on Ebay to be alerted by SMS or email when new items are added with your keywords
I’m on an incredible quest to amass a complete collection of Norcrest Blue Cat pieces and, within only one year, have already made amazing progress! Though the cookie jar remains my holy grail in this pursuit–as well as rumors of a tea cup out there somewhere!–I’ve also acquired several duplicates along the way such as a butter dish, pitcher/creamer set, wall plaques & oil-and-vinegar cruets.
I also sell duplicates of the vintage Norcrest Blue Cat if you are looking for pieces – Norcrest Blue Cat
