I hope everyone loves a mystery! Today I have a vintage set of Disney salt and pepper shakers in the likenesses of two of Donald Duck’s three nephews. But which of the three are represented here?
Let’s start our investigation:
They measure about 3 3/4 inches tall and about 2 1/4 inches wide
In their very first cartoon Huey wore a green shirt and cap, Dewey orange and Louie red. But the red-blue-green designation was later invented in the comics, where their shirts were black but their caps have those three now-recognizable colors. Today, the shirts and caps are color coordinated for each character.
And so because Disney did assign a shirt color to each duckling in later years, we will be able to name our two spice merchants.
Circa 1950’s (?) and stamped ‘Japan’
So we have red and green, although they have swapped caps with each other just to be difficult. Well, that’s in character!
4 holes for salt and 3 holes for pepper
We will assume the shirts are on the right duck. Let’s get some more information from Disney’s former Chief Archivist Dave Smith: “Note that the brightest hue of the three is red (Huey), the color of water, dew, is blue (Dewey), and that leaves Louie, and leaves are green.”
So it appears that our two spice merchants here are Huey and Louie.
Stripes on shirts aren’t character appropriate
Here is how the three mischievous ducks look today:
Perhaps you noticed the corks in the, er… tail feathers of our two ducklings? Here is a closer look for those who aren’t faint of heart:
Unfortunate placement!
I guess you have to get the spices into them somehow. But… seriously? This could be why Huey has an annoyed look on his face:
Angry, or constipated?
These shakers are listed in the book 1003 Salt & Pepper Shakers with Values by Larry Carey and Sylvia Tompkins for $200.00 US which seems a tad high. Sites such as eBay have them listed for auction starting at about $70.00 US. As usual the sellers are claiming they are rare.
Just can’t get enough Disney salt & pepper shakers? I have many in my collection and most of them are featured in another post entitled Disney Salt & Pepper Shakers.
