Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Vintage Salt Shakers

Do you like knick-knacks?  Do you like collecting stuff?  Do you like having a bunch of things in your home that you can't use, lest its quality diminish?

Then you've come to the right place!

Fairfax salt and pepper shakers in orchid crystal ~$100

Wham.  Vintage salt shakers.  All the rage these days.  But before you dive into the exciting world of vintage salt shaker collecting (you can throw the pepper shakers away), you should first know a few basics about the hobby connoisseurship:

Quality
This is totally important.  The better the condition, the more valuable the salt shaker.  If you're collecting just to decorate your kitchen with cutesy (dare I say kitschy?) salt shakers, then don't worry about this.  But real legit serious awesome collectors (Antiques Roadshow tier) should definitely keep quality in mind.

Materials
Salt shakers can be made of a variety of materials, including various metals, glass, wood, ceramics, and more.

Affordable vintage milkglass shakers ~$8-$10

Carved ivory adds a touch of elegance and murder ~$60

Age/Rarity
Like wine and unlike grapes, good salt shakers get better with age.  Sometimes it's not too difficult to determine the age of a salt shaker.  Some vintage salt shakers served to advertise for companies (a popular sub-genre of vintage salt shakers are the Gasoline Pump sets, for example), and so it is simply a matter of recognizing the era of the brand.

Likewise, many salt shakers represent popular characters, like this old-timey Mickey Mouse set:

 Did someone say Suicide Mouse? ~$195
 
Outrageousness Factor
Like this $800 set:
But it's signed!  I think it's a Warhol.

Level of Racism
Also important, apparently.
Goodness. ~$85-$100


15 comments:

  1. Lol,I wasn't expecting the mouse one, and neither the price

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  2. Those ivory ones are pretty fancy, the Warhol ones are just ridiculous though.

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  3. I love it when salt and pepper shakers are chararcters like the two mice or the black couple!

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  4. those are some hefty price tags. ivory ones are really nice though

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  5. Hah, I should probably clarify that the silver ones (actual silver) aren't really Warhols (they'd probably be way more expensive if they were...). They are signed though, I just don't know by whom.

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  6. I prefer the classic UK chip shop type, they only cost 75p (which is just under a dollar US)

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  7. at my parents house we had a salt shaker that looked like an apple, and a pepper grinder that looked like a pear. I don't really understand why, but I liked em lol

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  8. Maybe I should sell mine.

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  9. Very interesting blog you've got here :D

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  10. Lol love the blog I will be following. Please also check out my new blog as I'm just getting started.

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  11. I Like em, seems pretty neat that you made an entire blog about salt, some people might like it some people might think its pointless; take it with a pinch of salt :)

    check out my blog sometime if you get a chance

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to prove that you're worth your salt.