Tag Archives: cruet

Ivy Cruet on eBay – not exact but close

ivy-cruet

This is similar to a Walter Starnes ivy cruet we looked at in an earlier post, It is similar to the Olde Thomson cruet seen on I Love Lucy except the ivy is on the sides and not on the front.
See it on eBay HERE

  • Reference page on Starnes California.
  • Lucy’s Kitchen Cruet Set

    cruetset
    Another consistent element of the I Love Lucy kitchen decor is a wall mounted cruet set in a wooden stand. Many sets of this type were imported from Japan in the post WW2 years, examples of which can frequently be seen on eBay.

    The complete cruet set seen at an early date in the I love Lucy kitchen
    The complete cruet set seen at an early date in the I love Lucy kitchen

    The Cruet set on the show consists of a hand painted ceramic double neck oil and vinegar bottle with a matching ceramic handled wooden salad serving fork and spoon plus a funnel to decant the oil and vinegar into the separate compartments of the decorative bottle, all of which fit on a wall mounted wooden stand.

    Thompson Pottery Ivy Cruet in the same design as seen on I Love Lucy
    Thompson Pottery Ivy Cruet in the same design as seen on I Love Lucy with label ‘OLDE THOMPSON South Pasadena California’

    The set on I love Lucy has a hand painted Ivy design. An identical cruet was sold by George S. Thompson  of Pasadena with a label with label ‘OLDE THOMPSON South Pasadena California’. Their hand painted ivy range  named “Imperial Ivy”  used on  salt and pepper sets , salad sets and dining accessories, was marketed to co-ordinate with  popular ivy patterned dinnerware from other  manufacturers such as the Metlox California Ivy range.

    cruetsetonwall
    In a later episode you can see that the original funnel is missing and the ceramic handled wooden serving fork and spoon have been replaced with metal ones.

    As time went on we see the cruet set on the I Love Lucy  has signs that pieces of the salad set went missing, the funnel was lost and the wood serving fork and spoon were replaced by metal ones.

     

    cruet-set
    Mid century wall mounted cruet set made in Japan as seen on eBay

    Seen above is a similar salad cruet set that was listed on ebay recently although with a difference painted design.

    Vintage cruet set Japan
    Vintage cruet set Japan

    Here is another set – missing the funnel- currently listed on eBay as I write this.

    George C. Thompson Co Imperial Ivy Design
    Other items from  George S. Thompson Co  in the Imperial Ivy Design
    "Olde Thompson" Imperial Ivy Pepper Mill and Salt Shaker set promotional photo with Mexlox Califormia Ivy dishes.
    “Olde Thompson” Imperial Ivy Pepper Mill and Salt Shaker set – 1949 promotional photo with Mexlox Califormia Ivy dishes.