Vintage Salt & Pepper Shaker Mystery
08.17.08By Deanna DahlsadI don’t really collect salt & pepper shakers. I’ve a few vintage glass shakers for my table that we actually use, but I am more drawn to the vintage animal s & p shakers and it seems that whenever those are up for auction or for sale, the prices are too spicy for me. Sure, I’ve rescued a few single shakers, an odd elephant dressed as a policeman and a cat in a king’s robe; but that’s only two, not a collection, right?
But not too long ago I stumbled into these.
I got them, along with the matching cruet, not because they were uber cheap (though one could hardly call $15, or $5 per piece outrageously expensive), and not because I could see them as part of my animals with red polka dot bow ties collection (because these bow ties are stripped, not dotted — and I am fussy like that); but because they puzzled me.
These shakers and the taller cruet are part of a vintage ceramic figurative table wear set which was made in Japan. This I know. What I do not quite know is what the animals are supposed to be: pigs or cats?
Now I’ve made it through school, including college, thank-you-very-much, and I can tell a pig from a cat under most every other circumstance. But tell me, please, what you make of these?
Sleek black animals with pointy ears & whiskers, like cats. But then they also have pink pug-ish piggy noses, and curly tails. And their feet are painted in metallic gold — more like hooves than paws too. So I really don’t know what to make of them. Other than to find them, like any genetic mutant, utterly fascinating in their combined creepy cuteness.
Until you can prove — or at least make a great argument for — one or the other, pig or cat, I call them the black pig-cats.
I adore the romantic, old-fashioned look of a table set with crisp white linens and gleaming sterling silver tableware. It reminds me of something out of a Katherine Hepburn film set in the forties. Candlesticks, coasters, salt & pepper shakers, silverware – I just love collecting that stuff. All that beautiful silver needs to be taken care of properly, though, to keep it looking its best. Here are a few tips for caring for silver.
When the silver is not on display, wrap it in silver storage cloths which are designed to limit the formation of tarnish. These can be found at jewelry shops and stores where silverware is sold. The silver can then be placed in a plastic bag or storage chest.
