Family Album: Canadian Connections

When I first began researching for my ultimate wish list, which turned into A Collector's Guide to Merry Mushrooms, I stumbled upon the answer to what was the deal with those pieces that sure looked like Merry Mushrooms but not quite. They were part of the Canadian line of Merry Mushrooms. More on them is the blog entry Family Album: Meet the Canadian Cousins and Family Album: More Canadian Connections.

But because 50-year-old foreign catalogs are difficult to find and those that are for sale are often very pricey, my wish list and book was limited to the two Simpsons-Sears catalogs I was able to find online. Since then, I bandied about the idea of acquiring what Canadian catalogs I could.

So, earlier this year, I finally bit the bullet. First, I bought the Summer Values 1975 catalog for what I thought was an excellent price. While I waited for it to arrive from Toronto, it dawned on me the reason it was so affordable - it wasn't a Big Book (1,000+ pages), but rather the much smaller sales catalog of primarily clothing. Oh well, lesson learned.

My second purchase, while more successful, only increased my desire for more catalogs.

​Distributed by Simpsons-Sears Limited in Regina, Saskatchewan, the Simpsons-Sears Fall Winter 1981 catalog is an even 1,000 pages of awesome early 1980s-ness of ordinary people.

Flipping anxiously through, my heart began to sink. Would there be no Merry Mushrooms?

There they were! I literally clapped my hands and leaned over the page to get a closer look. But only a waste can, bread box, and canister set. Hmm. This was very exciting but there must be more, right?

Checked the index. Merry Mushrooms weren't listed at all like they are in many of the American Sears catalogs. Looked up everything relating to kitchen, appliances, clocks, towels, tiles. Nothing.

​Flipping through again, I found the salt and pepper shakers, either a small canister or sugar bowl, coffee mugs, and a plate! Oddly, they aren't listed anywhere for sale. The introduction to the Canadian-Made Woodenware featured on the page simply says, "Spices, knives, other accessories shown are not included." The hunt continues!