Pictures of vintage HH pixies

Holt Howard made some of the most whimisical household items back in the 50's and 60's!  They are as cute today as they were then and have become quite the collector items. 

Holt-Howard of Stamford, Connecticut, was established in 1948 by A. Grant Holt and the brothers Robert J and John Howard.  They designed ceramic kitchen and gift items.  Their most popular lines were the Cozy Kitten, Merry Mice, Rooster, Christmas Items, Dorable Daisy, Butler, Nodders, and our beloved Pixies.  The company remained in business until 1990, when it was sold to Kay Dee Designs.  Curt Blanchard designed a lot of the Holt Howard items and is now with Grant Howard Associates and designed a few new GHA pixie items that are really cute (New GHA pixies)

The Pixieware line was produced between 1958 and the early 1960's.  These items featured vertical stripes and little pixie heads.  The spoon that is attached to the pixie head is called a "spoofy spoon." The quality of Holt-Howard pixies is excellent.  You rarely see firing marks on these except for 3 pin marks underneath the spoon where it rested on to be fired.  In my years collecting Holt-Howard pixies, I have seen very few large paint splatters, big sandbumps or pops.  The lettering is always clear and the stripes are done wonderfully.  When you think about most of the pieces selling for $1, they did a heck of a job for that dollar!  The most common damage to these pixies comes from someone actually using them... imagine that!  One with a broken neck and/or spoon decreases the value dramatically.  Discoloration occurs when people put condiments in them for an extended period of time - this is because as they age, there is crazing that takes place and the condiment seeps into the clay thru the crazing.  Discoloration also decreases the value... how dramatically depends on the extent of the discoloration. 

Below is a list of the products included in the Pixeiware line.  Please note I have put my initials (ssvm) on the pictures simply to discourage copying and reuse of the pictures. 

16 Condiment Jars - Ketchup, Mayonaise, Mustard, Jam 'n Jelly, Onions, Cocktail Onions, Olives, Cocktail Olives, Cherries, Cocktail Cherries, Cream Crock and Lil' Sugar, Instant Coffee, Relish, Honey, Chili Sauce.  The Onions, Olives and Cherries head is the same on regular condiment as it is on the Cocktail condiment.  The Cherries and Onions spoofy spoon has a hole in it to drain the juice as you lift the condiment out of the jar.  The Olives has a fork or spear instead of a spoon.  The Instant Coffee has a rubber stopper around the collar.

5 Cruets - Oil & Vinegar (Sal and Sam), French Dressing, Italian Dressing, Russian Dressing.  The pixie name is written on the top of the oil and vinegar pixie head, and the bases come with a cork stopper and a blue spout in the middle to pour out the vinegar or oil. The salad dressing cruets have the cork cork stopper attached to the neck.  The salad dressing pixies are the only HH pixies that come with round heads as well as flat heads. 

3 Liquor Decanters - Whiskey, 300 Proof, Devil's Brew.  The bases came in stripes and also in solid colors.  Whiskey is Yellow, 300 Proof is Blue and Devil's Brew is Orange (stripes or solid color).  The decanters have their names writen on the pixie head.

2 Salt & Pepper Shaker Sets - Salty and Peppy Pixie heads with wooden handles, Stacking set of 4 (2 salt and 2 pepper) stacked in wooden container with no pixie head but pixie stripes.  BTW they even made a stacking set of Cozy Kitty.

7 Bowls - Pickle Pete, Mustard Max, Ketchup Katie, Oscar Olives, Onion Annie, Peanut Butter Pat, Tartar Tom.

3 Sundae Bowls - Nuts, Goo, Berries.  The sundae bowls have the pixie name written on the pixie head.

3 Hor d'Oeuvres - Pixie Boy with green hair, Pixie Girl with yellow hair, Pixie with orange hair made for the English.

2 Hurricane Lamps - Pixie Boy on Handle, Pixie Girl on Handle.  The lamps are the shape of a teapot.

4 Spoons - Chicken Soup, Vegetable Soup, Pea Soup, Tomatoe Soup

4 Towel Hooks - Mother, Dad, Brother, Sis.  The pixies have a hole at the bottom so you stick the hook thru the hole.

6 Bottle Bracelets - Whiskey, Rum, Bourbon, Scotch, Rye, Gin.  Each are a pixie face with the name written on the face

1 Wall Hanging Planter

4 Serviettes Ashtrays

Clips - Think there are four

All jars have "Holt Howard" marked on the bottom followed by the year produced (1958 or 1959) and Japan.  Some items still have the HH sticker attached.  The price for the condiments when manufactured was $1.00.  The bottle bracelets and soup spoons came in sets of 4 and sold for $1.95 a set.  The Sal and Sam Cruet set was an expensive item at $2.95!