Food

By Kelly Prew
Food Editor

Janie King didn’t find a passion for collecting like most people do. It wasn’t some kind of treasure/antique hunting adventure that got her started. In fact, she was reluctant to even try. More than 15 years later, though, she’s managed to acquire more than 6,000 sets of salt and pepper shakers and join a club for collectors, even heading the Texas chapter of the organization in the past.

“My mom collected,” she told the Tyler Paper in an interview from her home in Flint. “She died in 1990, and I wasn’t into collecting. It was painful for me because I could remember when she got a set, or where we were. I could remember.

“She owned a neighborhood cafe, and people who would go on vacation would always bring back some. That’s how she got started.”

However, in 1992 after encouragement from her husband and two daughters, Mrs. King found the Salt & Pepper Novelty Shakers Club and began making lifelong friends. She found that her mother’s collection of more than 300 pairs would keep her connected to like-minded people and would drive her to explore the artistry in each collectible set.

Every year, Mrs. King travels to the club’s convention, set this month in San Francisco, and she is excited to see friends and search other collections for pieces of a series and the singles she needs to match. Mrs. King also sells those duplicates and singles, numbering about 1,000, she can’t seem to shake.

“We have had about 1,200 people in the past, but we’re down to about 900 now,” she said. “I really get to know these people, and every year, we pick up where we left off.

“We all stay at the same place and open our rooms up to show off what we have. We buy and sell and trade. It’s fun.

“I’m currently looking for the ‘Flower Girl of the Month’ series (made by Napco). I have all but December.”

Although Mrs. King finds the thrill of the hunt for shakers a lot of fun, she takes it seriously, too. Some sets in her collection, which is displayed strategically in her home, are worth more than money.

She has sets dating to the 1930s, the 1950s and present-day pairs. She has thousands of discontinued pairs and those made by companies long-since out of business.

But the interesting thing is not how many she’s got or how much they’re worth. Mrs. King makes a game of showing off her favorites, those set out for holidays, special themes, recognizable characters and musically oriented pairs.

“When my girls were in high school, they would bring friends over, and they would ask, ‘Do you have Superman?’ It was a game (actually coined “Do you Have …”) to see if I had their favorites.

“I love showing off my collection.”

And, yes, Mrs. King has Superman, Spiderman, Elvis, Laurel and Hardy, Kermit and Miss Piggy, Pop ‘N’ Fresh and Poppie Fresh, fairytale characters, Betty Boop, characters from The Wizard of Oz, black Americana, an assortment of fruits and vegetables, ocean-related sets, Mickey and Minnie Mouse dating to the 1940s, nearly all the U.S. presidents and their wives, angels, Coca-Cola. …

Her collection spans continents and worldwide nationalities. Most are ceramic, while others are plastic metal, bone china and chalkware. There are “nodders,” or bobble head varieties; anthropomorphic, or those inanimate objects with human characteristics; the hand-painted; and the unique one-of-a-kind pairs lining glass cabinets throughout her home and an outdoor shed.

“They are works of art,” Mrs. King said, gently bringing an antique pair out for closer inspection. “Some of them make me smile. Oh, I remember (where I got) most of them.

“This is so fun. It really is,” Mrs. King said, smiling at a group of ocean-themed shakers that includes elaborate mermaids, mermen and sea life. “It’s more fun than any adult should ever have.”

She has made others smile, too, giving away bride and groom pairs to newlyweds, graduation pairs to the young achievers and special occasion sets she finds for folks.

To be considered actual shakers, the figures must have holes for the salt or pepper to come out and a hole in which to refill them.

But Mrs. King warns that none of them are to be used as actual tableware, for the simple fact salt is corrosive.

Case in point: On her kitchen table sit two non-descript glass shakers.

For more information on how to become a salt and pepper shaker collector or to inquire about a single or pair she has for sale, e-mail Mrs. King at snptxlady@nctv.com.

Janie King shows off a portion of her more than 6,000 sets of collectible salt and pepper shakers at her home in Flint.
(Staff Photo By Tom Turner)