It’s all about Merry Mushrooms with Bex Scott in this episode. Bex takes us down memory lane into her childhood to explore where her fondest memories of Merry Mushrooms pieces come from and where those pieces are today. She gives us a little history lesson on Merry Mushroom sets, too.
It’s all about Merry Mushrooms with Bex Scott in this episode. Bex takes us down memory lane into her childhood to explore where her fondest memories of Merry Mushrooms pieces come from and where those pieces are today. She gives us a little history lesson on Merry Mushroom sets, too.
Links to childhood and family are always the most poignant in Bex’s vintage housewares journey and the Merry Mushrooms pieces are no exception. Bex shares memories of her great granny’s collection and what she remembers from summers in Drumheller, but she also shares what a fellow collector told her about his reasons for wanting a complete Merry Mushroom set. Everybody has different attachments to different pieces, which inspired Bex to research the Merry Mushroom history. She explains what she learned about the various companies and styles involved in creating Merry Mushroom sets.
Resources discussed in this episode:
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Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex:
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Transcript
Bex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat.
Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey, everybody, this is Bex Scott, and you're listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, we're talking about mushrooms and not the food type, but the ceramic type. Think vintage mushroom canisters, coffee mugs, teapots and more. Stay tuned so you don't miss it. If you're a collector or a vintage lover, you likely keep an eye out for the brown, orange, and green mushrooms that decorate the cream canisters of a Merry Mushroom set. This set was super popular in the 1970s and still today. Now, I understand that these pieces aren't for everyone. I've had people tell me that they think they're extremely ugly, and others with mushroom or mushy obsessions drool over them. I would say that I'm somewhere in the middle, but I'm definitely one of the collectors that looks in Value Village, Goodwill, any thrift store for anything remotely mushroom themed. So it definitely is something that I thought would be fun to talk about. I decided to dedicate this episode to mushroom canisters after I had decided to resell part of a collection I bought on Marketplace.
Bex Scott: [00:01:40] I listed the salt and pepper shakers of the Canadian Sears collection and a man messaged me. Now the salt and pepper shakers had a ton of interest on Marketplace, but as Marketplace goes, I had equally as many people interested as those who ghosted me. Which is super frustrating when you know you've priced something really well and you just can't have somebody or get anybody to commit to coming to pick something up. But I think it was meant to be this way because this man messaged me, and I'm always interested in why people want to buy certain vintage items and he offered up his story right away. He mentioned that his mother had passed away two days earlier, and he'd been trying to piece together a full set like the one that she'd had when they were growing up, and each of her children would receive a piece of the Merry Mushroom set that he was looking for so that they could look at them and remember her. And I honestly couldn't think of a better reason to purchase these salt and pepper shakers. And I was excited that I could keep her memory alive for him and his siblings. And after we got talking a little bit, I mentioned to him that I had all these other pieces of the set and he was super excited because he was looking for the complete one. So this is one of the moments as a reseller and a collector that really, truly makes me happy to be able to help pass on these memories of people's family members and the special times that they had growing up.
Bex Scott: [00:03:21] And after he messaged me, it got me thinking about my own set of vintage Merry Mushroom canisters. And the Canadian series Merry Mushroom set holds a special place in my heart. While they're not my favorite item to collect, I would never part with a single piece. So my great uncle sadly passed away this summer, and I was lucky enough to inherit the pieces of his mom's, my great granny's, collection. And I was very young when my great granny passed away, but my great uncle remained living in her home in a small town in Alberta, just outside of Drumheller, and he kept it exactly as she had it when she was alive. And we used to, as kids, go down to Drumheller every single summer, and my grandparents have a house down the street from my uncle, or where my great granny used to live when she was alive, and we would go to his house and play in the yard with my cousins, and it just holds a super special place in my heart. And I remember her Norcrest bluebirds that covered her dresser top. And I've been lucky enough to inherit a few of them as well. And I just remember how beautiful and blue they were. This is when I was little, so even before I knew what all these items would mean to me in the future as a vintage collector. She also had this rainbow kitchen clock that now hangs on the wall in my office, and one of my absolute favorite memories was her kitchen table. It was always covered in a cheery patterned vinyl tablecloth, and instead of throwing out the old one, she would staple a new one on top. And you could see years and years of memories just by peeking under the table and looking at the different pieces of vinyl that had been used.
Bex Scott: [00:05:13] So my granny told me that when my great granny was given the canisters, she was ecstatic because it reminded her of her mushroom picking days when she was younger. Her kitchen was painted a pale yellow. It was a really pretty color, and she loved the way that the colors of the canisters complemented the paint on her walls. She thought they were so beautiful that she didn't use any of them in case they broke. And because of this, each of my pieces is in near perfect condition. She was like this with most of her items in her home, which made it an amazing time capsule. And this past summer, after my uncle passed away, my family went to his home and we were looking through some of the items that my great granny had, and all of these memories were rushing back. And I had always loved these canisters and I feel so honored that I have them. So in my collection from her home, I have the cream and sugar, the teapot, six mugs, five canisters, the salt and pepper shakers, and a bird feeder.
Bex Scott: [00:06:29] And the bird feeder has to be my favorite piece out of all of them. It has a little hole on the top for a chain to hang it, and two openings on either side of the mushroom shape where the bird seed would be filled and the birds could sit. And I noticed that the American version of the Merry Mushroom also has the bird feeder, and it has a little gold chain that it hangs from, and I haven't been able to find photos of the Canadian version, but I'm assuming that it would be a gold chain on this one as well. And I also have the Arnels 1973 spoon, fork and serving spoon wall hangings, which are really fun. And I remember these hanging above my great granny's kitchen table in her house and I remember as a kid thinking they're super neat because the spoons and fork were so massive, and it just, it was always a memory in my mind. And to have them now is really cool to be able to look at them, and my kids can look at them as well. So these pieces are all in my office, displayed proudly, where everyone that has a Zoom call with me can see them. I have all of the mugs, the teapot, the salt and pepper shakers, everything, all the canisters lining my Ikea bookshelves above my head on these calls, and then the spoons and fork hanging over my shoulder.
Bex Scott: [00:07:55] So they're the perfect conversation starter, with some people thinking that they're very out there, while others instantly dive into stories of their family members having them. And I remember being on one call with a potential client, and I turned on my Zoom and she looked behind me and she said, are those mushroom canisters? And I was so excited that she noticed what they were. And she immediately started telling me about how her mom had the same canisters, which made me super happy. So I'm admittedly a newbie when it comes to these canisters. And when I first got them, I foolishly thought that they were all made by Arnels, and I started doing some research and quickly discovered that I was very wrong. So I thought I would share a little bit about what I learned, in case it might be helpful for other newbies out there. Or maybe you have this from your family's collection that's been passed down to you, and you've been wondering what you have, which collection it comes from.
Bex Scott: [00:08:58] So first off, I discovered that there is the Sears Roebuck American version, and it included over 250 pieces and ran for 17 years. That is a ton of time and even more pieces. Which makes sense, because looking back through some of the old advertisements from Sears catalogs, I can't believe how many different items there are. There's pretty much everything. You've got canisters, napkin holders, coffee mugs, you name it. So to be on a team that had designed all of those items, I feel like that would be really cool. So not all of them included a maker's mark on the bottom, and many people think that they would. Some had stickers that said Japan and looking through photos some of them said Sears, Roebuck and Co. with the date, like 1976 and made in Japan, stamped in ink on the bottom. And this version had mushrooms on the front and mushrooms on the back, while the Canadian Sears canisters only had mushrooms on one side. I thought that was pretty interesting because first, I didn't know there was an American version and a Canadian version, and I assumed that they would all have only one side of mushrooms. But the American version, if you look it up, there is a little grouping of mushrooms on the back as well. Next up we have the Simpsons-Sears Canadian version, and these ones were made by Laurentian Pottery. And if you look on the bottom of them, you can see the mark on all of their pieces. And these are the ones that I have. And the biggest difference between the Canadian and American versions is the paint job. I didn't believe it at first, but when you put them side by side, it is very clear. In my opinion, the Canadian version looks kind of sloppy, hate to say it, while the American version almost looks more professional and thought out. So if you take them side by side or google them, you'll see that the brush strokes look different. The American ones just look more polished with more detail. But that's not to say that the Canadian ones aren't beautiful. The canisters from the Canadian version. They also seem to have a bit of a longer shape. And the lids are different. So the Canadian lids, they're thicker and they have a bit more detail and a bit more of an underside to the cap of the mushroom.
Bex Scott: [00:11:41] So next up is Arnels. And this is the company that I thought produced all of the merry mushroom canisters. Arnels started in 1953, in Beaverton, Oregon, and made ceramic molds and finished wares. So these canisters were part of a paint your own ceramic set. And because of this, they can look extremely different than the Sears Merry Mushroom pieces. And I've seen some of these canisters that people have painted that are beautiful. You would have no idea. I definitely wouldn't be able to do something like this. I've tried going to those paint your own ceramics and pottery places for birthdays and just for fun. And the stuff that I come out of there with is definitely not something I'd be putting on my own shelf. So one way to tell if you have a Sears set or an Arnels, outside of it having an Arnels maker's mark on the bottom, is that Sears has one little mushroom on the lid, and Arnels has a cluster of three. But keep in mind that Merry Mushroom molds have also been used as paint your own molds over the years, and some of those ones can also have one mushroom on the lid too, so it makes it a little bit difficult to determine if you have an authentic Sears piece that was produced by Sears and painted by them, or if you have more of a maker's piece. So my recommendation would be to use the gradient on the lid, the glaze, and just the distinct colors that they use to determine the authenticity of the canisters that you have.
Bex Scott: [00:13:24] There may be other companies that I haven't highlighted above, but the three that I have talked about were the ones that I thought were the most important. I love that mushrooms have remained popular to this day, and there are certainly coordinating mushroom pieces around every corner. I love going to the thrift stores and looking for any vintage mushroom item I can find. Some of them make it into my collection, but most of them I enjoy finding new homes for. Whether that's somebody on Marketplace or friends that are collectors that have been looking for certain pieces, it's just a really fun part of being a reseller and a collector. So if you have a Merry Mushroom collection or a story about a piece that was passed down to you, I would love to hear about it. Find me on Instagram at Pyrex with Bex, give me a follow, and let's chat.
