HOLT HOWARD 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 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 (designed by Bob Howard). The company remained in business until 1990, when it was sold to Kay Dee Designs. Grant Holt and John Howard then created their own business - Grant Howard Associates (GHA).  One of the designers that worked for Holt-Howard back in the 60's, Curt Blanchard, rejoined Grant and John at GHA and designed a few limited production pixies in 2000.(GHA pixie items ).  Care was given to keep the pixie shape, but design pieces in styles that were not offered in the 50's.  Since these GHA pixies were only made for one year in limited production, they are now demanding a high price too!

The Holt Howard "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.

17 Condiment Jars - All sold for $1.  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.  A British Marmalade jar was also made.

7 Cruets - Sal Oil & Sam Vinegar (sold for $2.95), 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.  There was also a British Oil and Vinegar but they had the salad dressing head and "oil" or "vinegar" was written on the cruet (they did not have the sal/sam 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. The decanters have their names writen on the pixie head. They sold for $1.95 each.

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 market).

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.  The set sold for $1.95.

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.  The Whiskey, Bourbon, Scotch & gin were sold as a set for $1.95.

1 Wall Hanging Planter

4 Serviettes Ashtrays

Crazy Clips - Big clips for Groceries, Recipes, etc.  There were 16 of them

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.

Pixie Wannabes

There were a number of pixie "wannabes."  Holt Howard pixies are the only ones that are called "pixieware" as that is the Holt Howard trademark.  Below are some of the most popular Wannabes.

Davar Pixies - The Davar pixies have are flat headed and are similar in shape and size to Holt-Howard pixies.  Typically the Davar spoon will fit in a HH jar and visa versa.  The stripes of the Davar pixie base are horizontal and they have little arms.  The lettering of the condiment on the base is written either in script or block style - script will have a floppy haired pixie top, block will have the hair standing up straight.  The quality of Davar is lesser than that of the Holt-Howard line.  The pixie tops must have been placed horizontal with the back collar and back of the head touching something when their paint was drying as you almost always see manufacturing firing flaws in those areas.  The color of the skin can range from real light, almost almond, to a flesh color.  The lines on the jars sometimes look like a nervous person painted them on.   And I have seen glazed over chips on the ears.  I have only seen one discolored Davar condiment so they must not be as prone to crazing as the Holt-Howard pixies.  You will often see little paint splatters and glaze pops but, for all their manufacturing flaws, they are still really cute and highly collectable.  you often see the tops and bottoms mismatched on the cocktail olives/mustard and the ketchup/jam so be sure when you buy that you are buying a matched set, the value goes way down if it is mismatched.  The Davar olives/Cherries/Onions always has "cocktail" in the name... ie Cocktail Onions.  They also made a cute horseradish nodder condiment holder and a garlic condiment. 

Davar Pill Boy Nodders - Another Davar item that pixie lovers will want to collect are the pill boy nodders.  There were six of them - Asprin, Pills for Chills, Lan Sakes Take these for Headaches, Tranquilizers, Hay Fever Pills, and Pep-up Pills. The head is attached to the collar with a spring which makes the head nod back and forth. They came in Pink, Yellow and Blue stripes and were made in 1958 and 1959.  They are very rare and expensive when you can find even one!.     

Lefton Pixies - There were two flavors of Lefton Pixies:  the ones made in the US and the ones made in Canada which have the ESD label.  Both the US and Canada Lefton pixies have round heads and the stripes are vertical like the HH pixies.  They are larger than the HH and Davar pixie - the spoon is too long to fit in a Davar or HH pixie bottom.  The necks of the Lefton pixies is thicker than Davar and Holt Howard, therefore you don't see them broken as often.... however, I have seen my share of broken ones!  The quality is similar to that of Holt Howard.  Lefton made a Jam, Marmalade, Instant Coffee, Mustard, Ketchup, Cocktail Olives, Cocktail Cherries, Relish, Sweetie Syrup, Salt & Pepper, and Santa  pixie condiment (I believe there was a Ms. Santa creamer with it).  Lefton also made a cocktail set consisting of a small Cocktail Onions and Cocktail Cherries pixie sitting on a tray (which had the cocktail drink names on it). The cocktail set is much smaller than the other pixies. 

MG Girl Pixies - MG introduced their line in 1968.  These are more "little girls" than "pixies", however because they have a spoon attached to the head, they are often referred to as pixies.  Each little girl head is flat and has a bow.  The bow matches the color of the dots and collar on her dress. The Saccharin condiment is half the size of the other condiments.  The most common flaw on these are the paint loss. 

Lipper & Mann Bonnet Girl Pixies - These little L&M Bonnet Girls sure are cute.  All have round heads with little bonnets.  Excellent quality but practically every one I have seen has had a chip (or a few chips) on the flower bonnet.  I have a Boy Jelly with the Liper label but he doesn't look anything like the Bonnet Girls. 

Jolly Girl - The Jolly condiments have little girl faces and are again referred to as pixies because of the attached spoon.  The bow matches the little flowers on the base and collar.  And she has little feet on the base!  No one seems to know much about this line but they made the Jam, Ketchup, Mustard, Relish, Mayo and Salt and Pepper.

BlackPixies - Now this one you don't see often.  Only the Catsup and Mustard were made in this line.  They were sold in a set with napkins and placemats.  The pixie head is flat headed, the jar is flat too (rather than round like most of them), and the collar is oblong rather than round.  I do not know the manufacturer and they are not marked.  These are expensive if you can find them, evidently there were not many made.

Blondie Pixies - Cute round headed pixies that all have blonde hair.  They have vertical stripes and the jar is more "hour glass" shaped with arms.  The quality is so-so and the spoon is a bit straight and narrow.  I have seen the Jam, Ketchup, Mustard and Relish.  I don't know who made these.

Kreiss Pixies - I have only seen the Ketchup and Mustard in Kreiss.  I have also seen a this little girl as an egg cup with an egg in the cup labeled salt - on the dress it says "I'm a little egg head" - very cute!.

Beatson Pixies - These pixies don't have stripes but rather are two-toned and have little buttons on the jar.  Their heads are round and I have seen them in the common condiments Jam, Ketchup, Mustard. 

Swirl Girl pixies - The Swirl Girl pixies have swirling vertical stripes with girl heads.  So-so quality.  I have seen the common condiments Jam, Ketchup, Mustard.

Commodore Ketchup and Mustard Pixies - Commodore only made the two pixies and they are a combination of a head jar and a pixie.  The jar is the head, and the hat has the spoon attached.

Chef Pixies - There were a couple Chef condiments made, the most well known are the NAPCO chef condiments - Jam, Ketchup, and Musard.  They were a combination of a head jar and a pixie.  The chef head was the jar and the hat has the spoon attached.