Witches

A crystal ball from the late 1800's

A pair of celluloid witch salt and pepper shakers from the 1950's.





A pottery witch bell


Another pottery witch


This is a witch pie bird. Pie birds became popular during Victorian times. In England they are known as pie funnels. Pie birds have always been very collectible and people such as Nancy Reagan, Princess Diana and George and Barbara Bush have pie birds collections. They basically are stem vents. When making a pie you put the bottom crust in the pie plate and then place the pie bird in the center. You add the filling around the bird and then place the top crust over it cutting a hole to allow the pie birds head to stick out the top. Then you seal the crust around the bird. As the pie bakes the steam is vented through the birds mouth. This stops the pie from boiling over and spilling into the oven.


This witch is from Italy...La Strega.


A pottery shopping witch


A Tommy Toy lead witch

Comments

Anonymous said…
Oh yay! The boy came home and put up pictures. Missed the postings yesterday :) I like the witch pie bird the bestest.
Anonymous said…
I've never heard of a pie bird. What an interesting concept. A continuous nice collection.
Carolee said…
What a wonderful collection! Love the witch pie bird!! Must look for one of those - it's almost time for summer pie baking. :)

~ Carolee
AwtemNymf said…
Wow- what a collection! I love the pie bird one! <[:O)
chib said…
That crystal ball is marvellous!!
I remember my mum having some old witches in her troll collection, wonder if she still has them. Liked the bell really much!
Christer.
brokenteepee said…
I love the crystal ball!
clairedulalune said…
I would loved to have met all the people who firsted owned these items, the history must be fansinating!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
a very good point cairdulalune...i often ruminate about who these people were and where did they find these things and how did they use them??? the tambourine for instance, was this an 1800's goth?
Lucie Le Blanc said…
The cristal ball is so clear ! What a beauty.

I had never heard of pie birds too. Love the idea : practicle and beautiful.
Hibiscus Moon said…
All your little witches with the long noses look like Italian Strege. Are they? Or just the one? I'm big into Strega since my nonna was one. :)
Jeanne said…
Beautiful crystal ball. I am enjoying your collection. How long have you been collecting?
And as always, your flowers are gorgeous!
Thank you for sharing!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
i have been collecting for over 20 years! the witches with the long noses are not marked but the chances are very good that they are swedish or norwegian. they are kitchen witches. many people kept witches in the kitchen to drive away bad spirits and bring good luck so they would not burn their food and to keep it from spoiling.
Tristan Robin said…
That crystal ball is a knockout - as is the pie bird. But my favorites are the two retro celluloid salt and pepper shakers. Wonderful!
I love your witches...especially the pie bird witch & I would love to add it to my page about pie birds, if that would be okay with you. You can see my page at http://www.squidoo.com/pie-bird .

Brenda