As one can imagine, these centennials are cause for retrospectives, museum installations and commemorative SHITE.
Anybody who knows me at all knows that I’m, as my birth mother will tell you, ‘a Bad American.’
Of course, as the quasi-Cannuck that she is, that’s a compliment.
Anyhoozles…
When I was in school, it was all.the.rage. to have bicentennial bullshit, be it jewellery, clothing (often it was the motif print, whether red, white & blue or Eagles or George Washington in silhouette…), pencil erasers (‘rubbers’) — you name it!
Mammy didn’t do so much of the buying of that lot but she got a replica of the Liberty Bell in what looks like Carnival Glass and it’s meant as a cookie jar.
The ‘commemoration’ in the base shows a Statue of Liberty on top and 1776-1976 on the bottom. I do not quickly see a maker’s mark, which leads me to believe it’s worth nothing but my extreme sentimental value.
–don’t mind Halloween garland or platter with a pentagram–that shite’s straight out mine, too
She didn’t collect cookie jars or that other commemorative crap.
I don’t recall if it was a gift at a bank for opening a new Certificate of Deposit (for large enough sums in those days, they frequently gave appliances or dishes, etc.).
What I do recall was being entranced at the replica’s details.
I also recall mammy saying ‘This is yours, when you get big.’
She kept it on the sideboard, filled with biscuits, of course!
I remember this so clearly because I’d stand on a kitchen stool, pulled over to the sideboard, tracing the details with my fingers over and over. I could have 2 biscuits but no more, so as not to waste, but it was my jar and my biscuits!
I’ve kept it packed away since my mam dropped dead getting near 20 years.
I’m using it and you know why? It’s mine. Mammy said so.
opinions expressed may be incorrect 