Unique Cool Ray Polaroid Sunglasses

NByers

NByers

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I found these Cool-Ray Polaroid sunglasses at an estate sale and was wondering if anyone knew if this style is rare...also, I am not finding very much infomation about Cool-Ray as a brand, does anyone know anything about the brands history? I am not sure if these are a big deal or not :)
 
Those are very nice frames. 1950s I would say.

I love Polaroid sunglasses, and you do find some very nice interesting frames by them, but they are not particularly rare. If you search ebay completed listings, you will see Polaroid Cool Ray's selling for between £10 and £40. Polaroid have been making sunglasses since the 1930s until today. I'm not sure how long the 'Cool Ray' line was around for. I like Polaroids because they will have good quality polarising lenses.

That these are glitter and cats eye shape, in combination with a good and known brand, makes them desirable. I would still say they are not very rare, but a very nice piece.
 
Acutally, although they are now better known for photography products, Polaroid did and still do make sunglasses, not just the lenses. They pioneered the polarising lens and made their own sunglasses with their own lenses. I believe Cool Ray was one their lines. According to wikipedia, they were dominant in sunglasses before they moved into photography. See also a short history of the company on their own sunglasses website

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Interestingly though, I have now seen ads for American Optical Cool Ray sunglasses, and American Optical Polaroid Cool Ray Glasses. I did a little research, and AO signed a license agreement with Polaroid in 1935 (see timeline here). but Polaroid certainly made their own sunglasses as well.
 
Yes, I understand that Polaroid made sunglasses - lots of really great ones too! Cool Ray was trademarked in1942 by AO then later sold to Cool Ray inc. If you look at the ads around the timeframe of these glasses you will see that they say they are Cool Ray glasses with Polaroid lenses. The bottom of the ads also mentions the two separate companies. I will get the ads once back at my computer. USPTO.gov also helpful in sorting this out in this instance.

Also, unless, I am reading it wrong, I believe the 1935 entry on the Polaroid timeline indicates that AO signed an agreement to use Land-Wheelright (Polaroid) lenses in the production of sunglasses. Meaning AO obtained the right to use the Land-Wheelright product and not vice-versa.
 
BTW - not trying to start WWIII here - this was just a topic in my Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights class so it happened to ring a bell. A girl in my glass did a presentation and Cool Ray/Polaroid was included in her presentation. To say that it is confusing is an understatement but sleuthing it out is always fun. In the end, it has little bearing on the sunglasses themselves, which I think are very cool. Nice find.
 
I'm very happy to be corrected. I did see there was a Cool Ray company later on, but I wasn't sure myself if that was the same trade mark or not. I had understood that Cool Ray was a Polaroid line, but it sounds like you know more than I.

Thanks for bringing your knowledge to the discussion. Sleuthing is fun!
 
I should have clarified - AO assigned Cool Ray TM to Cool Ray Inc in 1957 so it is more likely that that the OP's glasses are actually AO with Polaroid lenses. I think we would see a registration symbol after the words Cool-Ray on the arm of the sunglasses if they were post assignment. I need to look at more listings to see if anyone else shows the arms to test my theory. May end up being a good way to date these sunglasses as pre-1957 or post 1957. Anyhoo - to continue to belabor this dicussion (:))...ads from 1960 attached...text has great infomration. Sorry if large but text was hard to read any smaller.
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Coincidentally--and just to add additional joint-company information--I bought these earlier American Optical Polaroid glasses at an estate sale last week. I believe they were sent home by a WWII soldier. The edge of the box says: "Polaroid 6 Curve Fits-On Glasses"; Cat. No. 364P Green; Size 40 FV3

Needless to say, they don't have any of the charm all of your wonderful glasses have!

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THANK YOU ALL!!! All of the great info that everyone had really helped me A LOT! I try to provide as much information about my items as possible...so this really helped! If anything I love them because they had glitter! ;-) Who doesn't love a little glitter!
 
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