From Christmas to the queen and her corgi, Newfoundland woman has collected more than 500 salt and pepper shakers
Della Toope had no idea when her toddler gave her a set of salt and pepper shakers for Mother’s Day almost four decades ago that the tiny gift would be the beginning of a collection that has turned into a great hobby.
“Jeffrey gave them to me on my second Mother’s Day. He was only a year-and-a-half at the time,” Toope said during an interview at her home in Mount Pearl, NL.
Toope now has over 500 sets of salt and pepper shakers. No two sets are alike and over 90 sets are Christmas-themed.
“I’ve got my snowmen collection and my Santa collection. Randy’s mom (the late Jessie Toope) loved cardinals, and I have a lot of them in my collection,” Toope said of her late husband’s mother.
While one of her favourite Christmas sets is of Santa’s descent down the chimney, Toope also enjoys collecting more modern sets, pointing to a lovely red truck with a green tree in the back.
Toope said her son Jeffrey and her daughter Kim have continued to buy her sets over the years. Other family and friends have also added to her collection.
Her 11-year-old grandson, Ashton, and three-year-old granddaughter, Brooklyn, also love the colourful collection.
“Brooklyn will look into the cabinet and say, ‘Nanny, they are so nice,’” Toope said.
WIDE VARIETY
Toope has four cabinets and several accent tables devoted to her shakers. It’s fun to sort them according to various holidays, she said.
“I really like my Halloween collection. I have a lot of Easter ones, too. And, in the summertime, I’ll take out my flower ones. I just love them all.”
When visiting local craft fairs or thrift stores, Toope is always on the lookout for sets that she doesn’t already have.
Shakers have also made their way to Toope’s home from various parts of the world.
“I’ve got a beautiful set from Dubai ... I’ve got them from England, I’ve got them from Denmark, Hawaii and lots of places in the Caribbean where I’ve been on cruises,” she said.
From the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to the Queen and her corgi; from Mickey and Minnie Mouse to a teapot and cup; from rubber boots to pot-bellied stoves, the salt and pepper shakers Toope has in her collection evoke many fond memories.
Dogs, cats, cows, pigs, horses, or llamas are all great conversation pieces, she said.
KEEPING TRACK
How do you keep track of hundreds of sets of salt and pepper shakers? Simple: You detail the collection in a book, Toope says, getting up from her living room chair and coming back with a large binder filled with photos. She has written the names of the people who gave her each set on the back of each photo.
“Down the road, when I may not remember, I will be able to tell you who gave them to me.”
Some of the sets hold special meaning to Toope, including the one that her friend, who has since died, gave her. The set belonged to her friend’s mother, who has also passed away.
She is also fond of the sets that her mother, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Maynard once owned, she said.
Toope doesn’t have any plans to add to her collection right now. However, the phrase ‘never say never’ comes to mind when she speaks about not buying any more sets.
“I don’t think I’m going to buy any more, but I was tempted to buy another set the other day ... so, if the price is right,” she said, laughing at her own indecisiveness.
Toope’s husband died in July 2017, and she has fond memories of him helping her display her collection.
“He built me a beautiful shelf for the wall then he built me another one. We were living in Trouty (on the Bonavista Peninsula) at the time.”
Toope isn’t sure what will happen to her collection once she passes on.
“All I know is that I’m enjoying them now. And whatever they decide to do with them when I’m gone, that’s fine with me,” she said.
DID YOU KNOW?
• The Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum is in Gatlinburg, TN. The museum features over 20,000 sets of shakers from around the world.
• The museum also has a sister museum in Guadalest, Spain.
• The number of holes in salt and pepper shakers varies by culture, health, and taste.
• In the United States (and Canada), excessive salt is considered bad for you, so the salt shaker has fewer holes, but in parts of Europe, it’s the other way around.
• The number of holes also has to do with availability. In some places, salt was rare and prized, whereas in Europe it was difficult to get your hands on pepper, since it’s a spice from the Orient which was used to spice up meat that was past its prime.
• Another factor is the size of the grains. Some salts are quite coarse while others are very fine, and pepper can be ground or it can be cracked, which many cooks prefer.
• Exceptions abound. You can have one, two, three or more holes in a shaker and they go from tiny holes to huge ones.
Source: www.thesaltandpeppershakermuseum.com