This B.C. woman is photographing her grandma’s 1,200 salt and pepper shakers

Old salt and pepper shakers are arguably the epitome of kitsch, with many of us having older relatives who have collected some oddly-shaped souvenir shakers over the years.

But Chelsea Watt’s grandmother, Flo, took that collection to a whole new level — boasting over 1,200 shakers that she started picking up over 60 years ago, in the mid-1960s.

The collection features many B.C. landmarks, animals playing tennis and doing backflips, and even more elegant shakers featuring the Royal Albert Old Country Roses pattern.

Watt, who lives in New Westminster, B.C., was given the vast collection of salt and pepper shakers when her grandmother moved into assisted living last year.

With the aid of records detailing who Flo received the shakers from and where they’re from, Watt is creating a visual chronicle of them on Instagram under the handle “sentimentalseasonings.“

“She has everything from hamburgers and toasters, lobster claws and little trains,” she told CBC’s On The Coast. “I mean, all kinds of things, some not safe for work, like everything you can imagine.”

Watt is quick to say that many of the shakers never actually had salt and pepper in them, but she has vivid memories of going to her grandmother’s house and seeing hundreds of them on display.

“Some of them are so funny, like the facial expressions on some of these hand-carved or hand-painted sets, like particularly the really old ones,” she said. “The facial expressions now when we look at them are very funny.”

Watt says she’s had great feedback on her Instagram account so far, including from her grandmother, who is now in her early 90s.

“I think she would love it if I kept them all, but you know, I don’t know that I have room for 1,275 pairs,” Watt said.

Family, friends encouraged hobby

Watt has meticulous notes typewritten by her grandmother, along with a numbering system to help her organize the collection. 

She says her family encouraged her grandmother and helped build the collection over decades, with every family member and friend on the lookout for souvenir salt and pepper shakers wherever they went.

“She used to manage an apartment building in the West End of Vancouver. And, you know, residents in the building would give them to her sometimes,” Watt said. “It was just something that everyone knew that she loved.”

As she builds her Instagram chronicle, sorting through anthropomorphic watermelons and petrol pumps, Watt says it’s made her wonder what the idea of a “souvenir” is today.

She says many souvenir shops nowadays only stock more conventional items like key rings and coffee mugs, opposed to the eclectic salt and pepper shakers that comprise her grandmother’s collection — something she’d like to see change.

“Who needs another coffee mug? But a pair of, I don’t know, a pair of skunk salt and pepper shakers or a pair of lobster claws, if you’re at a beach town? Like, that’s way more fun.”