385. All Shook Up: MR. PEANUT SALT 'N PEPPER SHAKERS

Planters Peanuts is largely unknown in the Philippines, but is an American product icon, first produced in 1906 by Italian immigrant Amedeo Obici,in partnership with Mario Peruzzi. The branc character--Mr. Peanut--came about when a contest was launched in 1916,won by schoolboy Antonio Gentile who sent in a drawing of a human peanut with legs. An artist later added a monocle, a walking stick and a tophat. Mr. Peanut became a merchandising success, turned into coin banks, mugs, glasses, pins, buttons, coloring books, cloth dolls--and even into salt and pepper shakers, such as this pair. I found this in a shop in downtown Somerville, in New Jersey, while on a short vacation. There were so many of them there, that it was kinda hard to choose, but these two, I thought, were the most attactive and functional, Mr. Peanut collectibles were made in dizzying varieties and are so plentiful, that they are easily found, and so affordable, they literally cost--well--peanuts!