Just cruet! #Vintage gems to display and serve salt, pepper, mustard and more!


Lately we have had something of a cruet set glut here at Margate kitsch'n'retro


People don't use cruet sets like they used to, but that's not the point! The point, if I may be so bold, is to present an elegant, exciting or at the very least an interesting spread for your diners. How could you avoid doing that, with these babies?





Midwinter Zambesi
The Midwinter 'Zambesi' set is an ultra-collectible classic, designed by the great Jessie Tait in the mid-1950s. The one I've found still looks fresh as a zebra-striped daisy today. 










CarltonWare pear


CarltonWare is responsible for some of the most ridiculous examples, including an irresistible pear-shaped number, but also for the sublime 'Windswept' pickle pot, and the tiny but elegant cruet in corresponding shape (but without the streamlined print).






CarltonWare tomato
A little tomato-shaped cruet on a classic CarltonWare lettuce leaf base is 1970s novelty tableware at its crisply delicious height!











Poole Potteries cruet
More elegant is a piece from Poole Potteries in their trademark steel blue. Produced between 1959 and 1967, it is in gleaming and immaculate condition, 50 years on.










Unstamped cruet on a Wyncraft stand
I also have several stylised zebra stripe sets that are unstamped, but they look like they come from Geoffrey Maund.

One zebra set is presented on a genuine teak Wyncraft stand, so is emphatically 'fifties. And there is also a pair of sleek, tapered monochrome striped salt and pepper shakers at a bargain price, due to a tiny chip near the base of one






PS: I know I've used "just cruet" before, but I don't have many better headline ideas – I still think it's funny...

Comments