Although salt-and-pepper shakers seem to have been with us forever, it wasnt until the late 1800s that these what-would-we-do-without-them conveniences became a reality. The reason? With just the slightest change in humidity, salt caked, and the resulting lumpiness made it unworkable in a shaker. Home remedies, such as grains of rice mixed with the salt, helped relieve some of the clumping. Various patents were also issued for shakers with interior agitators, designed to break up the salt and restore it to a sprinkling consistency. But the real breakthrough came with the development of a moisture absorber applied to the salt itself, keeping it dry and shakable. While various firms claimed credit for this brainstorm, certainly the best known was the Morton Salt Company. Joy Morton patented a workable refinement of the moisture-absorbing concept in 1911. Mortons yellow-skirted umbrella girl still adorns each box, accompanied by a slogan that means what it says, When it rains, it pours. At last, no more open salts elbowing their messy way onto dining tables. Now, homemakers could choose from a plentiful pantry of salt-and-peppers, the designs ranging from the staid to the whimsical. There were, of course, traditional side-by-side shakers in metal or glass, their urn-like shapes well-suited to formal dining. But for fun-lovers in search of novelty, there were plenty of options. Shaker nodders bobbed at the touch of a finger. Nesters paired a larger shaker with a smaller one (an organ grinder with his capering monkey, for instance). Shapes ran the gamut from the to-be-expected (grinning animals, frisky kitchen utensils) to the unlikely (TV sets, toasters, even umbrella stands). Salt-and-peppers were available in a multitude of media and a rainbow of colors. There were shakers of porcelain, wood, plastic, bone, composition, chalk, and even cardboard (the last not known for its durability). Ceramic proved an ideal medium, since it lent itself to imaginative shaping and decoration. More importantly, ceramic shakers kept the seasonings inside at their freshest. The heyday of novelty shaker production ran from the mid-1920s well into the 1960s. Prior to World War II, most shakers were imported from Japan and Germany. With those imports banned during the war, American firms called on their own ingenuity to satisfy consumer demand. Some, such as The California Cleminsons, already specialized in usefully-homey ceramic items (spoon rests, sock darners, pie birds, and the like). Adding salt-and-peppers to the mix was a natural progression. Other companies hedged their bets. Madisons Ceramic Arts Studio, the nations largest producer of figural ceramics during the late 1940s and early 50s, released many items as both figurines and shakers. (The only difference: shakers had holes in the tops and corks in the bases). Since the CAS inventory was a vast one, there were plenty of choices available, from Bunny Snugglers to an ax-wielding Paul Bunyan towering over a tiny Evergreen Tree. Bringing a cheery note to kitchen tables in their prime, novelty S & Ps continue to delight today. Eager collectors are awash in the thousands of novelty shakers that flood the market--and thousands is no exaggeration. Today on eBay, nearly 100,000 shakers were listed for sale. Some collectors are only interested in a specific type of shaker (nodders, nesters, those with souvenir of stickers). Others narrow their shaker collecting by category, only animals, for instance. Novelty salt-and-peppers mesmerize fans for a variety of reasons. For one thing, you can collect them indefinitely, without ever repeating yourself. For another, their manageable size lets you stock your kitchen shelves with a generous assortment and still have room for more. And heres a real plus: novelty S & Ps remain remarkably affordable. So many were mass-produced that today its a buyers market. Internet listings, estate sales, and flea markets are peppered with an endless selection of shakers with salt-of-the-earth themes. Often, prices are well under $25 a pair. What a bargain! Even well-seasoned collectors wont be able to resist. Photo Associate: Hank Kuhlmann. All photos by Donald-Brian Johnson. Donald-Brian Johnson is the co-author of numerous Schiffer books on design and collectibles, including Postwar Pop, a collection of his columns. Please address inquiries to: donaldbrian@msn.com.