How One Thing Leads to Another: Ball Pitchers

When I was a child we had a cream-colored ball-shaped pitcher that we used for making Kool-aid. It had an ice lip to prevent the ice cubes from plopping into your cup, and the drink was also so icy cold in that pitcher on hot summer days.

Mom kept the pitcher on a high shelf in her kitchen, and after she passed away all of us wanted it. I can't remember who ended up with it after she passed away, but by that time I'd found one just like it and kept it on a high shelf in my kitchen, where it made me smile every time I saw it.

That one pitcher led to the purchase of a small red creamer because I like the homey shape. I used it daily for a while; then it too went up on the high shelf. Many years later I got into the antiques and vintage resale business, and in scouting auctions, flea markets, etc for stock I found a larger red ball pitcher. It too went up on the shelf. I soon found more in yellow, green and blue. There was even a pink one that apparently flew out of the back of my husband's truck in a tote that wasn't tied down properly. That one just plain disappeared.

The collection continued to grow: I found a small green one when we were on vacation in Oregon last summer, and two stained pale yellow ones from a friend's resale group. Another green one was an eBay find, and made an adventurous journey from the wilds of northern Montana through blizzard conditions to the seller's mailbox, and eventually to me. We shared many messages back and forth during the saga.

The latest addition came from a Facebook friend. He saw a photo of my collection in a vintage kitchen group I belong to, and thought I needed a cobalt blue cream pitcher, so he sent me one as a gift. It has found its place on the shelf of ball pitchers, a shelf that contains many stories now, and always makes me smile.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.