Cruets

My mother-in-law is coming to visit for a couple of days. This is a good thing. Friday morning Jill is going to meet her in Michigan City. They will meet at the Antique mall near the expressway. They will probably stay there until about lunch time, then after lunch head back. I think that they have planned stops in Coloma and then Saugatuck, (of course for antique shops) before hitting the ones in Holland and beyond.
Among other things my mother-in-law, Charlene has quite a collection of antique cruets. For those who may not be familiar with cruets, they are used for oil or vinegar for salads. Jill and I have a very small collection of them, but Charlene has well over 100 cruets. While cruets are all very similar, they come in different sizes and colors. They have greatly varied stoppers which help make the cruet beautiful. Some of the stoppers are round, smooth, oval or even shaped like a cross. Some are multi faceted and really reflect the light. Cruets come in crystal, brown, amber, green, red, blue, yellow, gold, cranberry, white, milk glass and just about any combination you can imagine. While they are mostly glass, I have seen some ceramic ones. They range in price from just a few dollars to around $200.00. There were and are several producers of cruets. So, as you can see it is a wide open field.
I can tell you from experience that if you happen to know anyone who has a very large collection of them that it is worth your time to check them out. Whenever we visit my in-laws one of the very first things that I do is check out Charlene’s display. It is very captivating and beautiful.
The next time that you are in an antique shop, be sure to look and see if they have any cruets. Who knows, maybe that will be your next collection.
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