About five months ago, I dove into the history of microwave cooking and how Sears cashed in on the emerging household technology by offering eleven dishes with the Merry Mushrooms decal. Check it out if you'd like. At the time, I hadn't seen proof that these existed.
Low and behold, back in April 2021 someone posted on The Real Merry Mushroom Collector's Facebook page that they had found the muffin pan and baking ring (Bundt pan) for a steal. How lucky! Then, THIS was listed on eBay in mid-May 2021.
Merry Mushrooms were the brainchild of Jack Buchanan, the Sears Housewares Buyer in the 1970s. In 2013, Jack published a LifeBio booklet, Sears, A True Fairy Tale, about the creation, rise, fall, and rediscovery of Merry Mushrooms. Copies of the booklet are often available on eBay, usually listed as "Sears Merry Mushroom Storybook" and sold by Jack's son, John. In 2014, Jack himself presented his story at what appears to a LifeBio program at a local library. He was accompanied by some Merry Mushrooms canisters and miniatures. Jack is in now his nineties and still loves talking about Merry Mushrooms! So the traditional Yiddish saying goes. And for collectors of Merry Mushrooms, the casual act of picking up our favorite fungi is now a full-blown hobby.
As a habit, I would buy Merry Mushrooms as I found them, rarely giving the price a second thought. But I always wondered just how many of these mushrooms are there? About this time last year, in April 2020, I embarked to make a list of all the Merry Mushrooms to help me collect them all. That list became the book, A Collector's Guide to Merry Mushrooms. I figured maybe other collectors might find it useful, too. Over the past year, I've watched in disbelief as my casual collectable became super desirable but in low supply, the economic formula for skyrocketing prices. For many, this habit is now a hobby. For me, I've spent money beyond just buying Merry Mushrooms. I've spent money on this website, printing drafts of my book, ordering proofs, a laptop and ergonomic mouse, social media ads, display materials for my collection. Definitely a hobby, wouldn't you say? At work the other day, I found myself thinking about my Merry Mushrooms collection. Yes, it was quiet and no, I don't work as an orthopedic surgeon or firefighter, something that requires intense concentration.
I realized the last thing I found in the wild was the knife from the carving set in late summer 2020. And before that, a set of four 9oz. drinking glasses at Antiques on Pierce in Milwaukee, over two years ago. At the time, I almost passed the glasses up because I felt they were priced too high, at what I remember around $30. Luckily, my husband asked his loving refrain, "Is this something you're going to wish you bought? Are you going to mention it every time we come here if you don't?" So, it was super exciting to find THIS listed on Facebook Marketplace for $20! So, I'm working my way through all sorts of stuff I've collected over the years and selling on eBay. Partly to make money to put towards my Merry Mushrooms collection and partly because it's time to let others enjoy these things. As I was photographing a stack of Sweet Valley Twins books, a favorite childhood book series, I gasped. Then, grabbing this particular book, I went directly to my bewildered husband and told him, "Look, look what's on the cover behind Elizabeth!" He remarked that now I have the next blog entry. And here is it! Sweet Valley Twins #18 Center of Attention was published in April 1988, mere months after Merry Mushrooms were last offered in the Sears catalogs. They were immensely popular until the end and were found in kitchens around the world. Perhaps it's not a stretch to imagine that the cover artist, James Mathewuse, had a Merry Mushrooms cookie jar or canister set in his own kitchen or prop collection.
When I first began researching for my ultimate wish list, which turned into A Collector's Guide to Merry Mushrooms, I stumbled upon the answer to what was the deal with those pieces that sure looked like Merry Mushrooms but not quite. They were part of the Canadian line of Merry Mushrooms. More on them is the blog entry Family Album: Meet the Canadian Cousins and Family Album: More Canadian Connections. But because 50-year-old foreign catalogs are difficult to find and those that are for sale are often very pricey, my wish list and book was limited to the two Simpsons-Sears catalogs I was able to find online. Since then, I bandied about the idea of acquiring what Canadian catalogs I could.
Five different types of spice holders were offered throughout the Merry Mushrooms line. The most common ones are the white two-tier rack with twelve embossed spice shakers and the spinning rack with six embossed spice shakers.
The Spice Box with eight embossed ceramic drawers pops up once in a while. The Spice Cabinet, today's featured piece, has been spotted in collector's pictures of their collection, but this is the first one I found for sale. Finally, the Spice Chest with a stained-glass look glass door has remained elusive. If you have one, please let me know! Offered in just two Sears catalogs between 1976 and 1977, the Spice Cabinet was sold with a set of twelve clear glass spice jars. Sadly, this cabinet didn't include the jars, but it was an exciting sight to see, nonetheless! Were you the lucky one to win? My collection has mostly grown organically, picking up a piece here and there as I came across them and at an affordable price. Recently, however, it feels like finding Merry Mushrooms in person at antique malls, resale and thrift stores, and rummage and estate sales is becoming more rare - even for the ubiquitous cookie jar and embossed canister. So I've turned to scouring online to find some of the more elusive fungi. But as interest grows, so do the prices. Now, not only do I challenge myself to find a piece I don't have, it must also be at a good price. Of the five different teakettles (not whistling), this tea kettle can be considered a transitional piece. Offered from 1976 to 1977, it's the last 2-quart kettle offered, but has the curved spout of the 1978-1982 kettles. It also has a black plastic knob and handle, which will return to wood in the following years. Seeing this kettle in person also confirms that color is yellow. The other colors are gold and almond, which are super hard to distinguish from the catalogs and online photos.
Next is the Bulletin Board/Chalkboard. The dimensions from the 1980s catalogs are accurate but it was still surprising how much bigger I expected it to be, maybe standard corkboard size. While examining it, I discovered that the Merry Mushrooms insert is hard white plastic with a decal that's glued onto the frame. Last is the Salt and Pepper Mill Set, briefly offered from 1979 to 1981. What I thought was white ceramic, or perhaps hard plastic, in the middle is really wood painted white with a decal of the Merry Mushrooms design. Interesting!
While scouring decades old Sears catalogs for my book, I discovered that there was a brief moment in which Merry Mushrooms microwave cookware was available.
It was the end of the 1970s, a decade filled with gas shortages, stagflation, disco, the end of Vietnam, flared pants, social justice movements, and the introduction of computers and 911. Add into this mix the proliferation of the microwave oven, which was invented in 1947. By 1967, the ovens were small and sort of affordable enough to appear in American kitchens. In the mid-1970s, microwave ovens were outselling gas ranges and were found in 60% of homes. To capitalize on the rise of the time-saving cooking method, community colleges, test kitchens, and housewares companies and began offering microwave cooking classes, cookbooks, and cookware.
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