Kitchen Collectibles

Opening a kitchen drawer at my mother’s house was like a step back in time. Inside was a jumble of kitchen gadgets so different from the sleek and elegantly styled kitchen utensils of today. She’d been a World War II bride and started out married life with an abundance of gifts from family and friends. In a day when household sundries were not so disposable, those same gifts followed her from home to home until, finally, they found a permanent home on the farm and in the imagination of an only child. A can opener with a bright-red wooden handle. A tin cookie cutter with a handle on the back side. An egg beater with a little polished wooden knob. A set of ceramic custard cups in lovely pastel colors. But my favorite was a tea egg, or so she called it, a little egg shaped tin vessel suspended from a chain with a hook on the end that held it captive in a tea pitcher or tea cup.