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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Inside Antiques, by Robert Reed   Inside Antiques: Picnic Collectibles, Treasures Of Past Outdoor Times   By Robert Reed The only two things a picnic ever needs are the great outdoors and a stay of nice weather.   Fundamentally, it could require no more than a blanket and an allotment of food, perhaps with an upgrade to Grandma's picnic basket packed with goodies and utensils.   In wayback times, the Cadillac of picnics included a manufactured picnic set, complete with a thermos or two, porcelain teacups and rattan-wrapped salt and pepper shakers.   You could picnic solo, but in North American culture and elsewhere, a picnic of two is often a pathway to romance. And there have always been family picnics, church picnics and even company employee picnics.   Civilization has celebrated with outdoor feasts of sorts for centuries.   Some accounts suggest that in the 16th century, a picnic more or less involved people bringing their own wine to a restaurant. Following the French Revolution, royal parks were open to the public and picnicking was fully permitted. Even then the emphasis was more on the potluck aspect of the event, where participants all had the opportunity to contribute to the fare of the meal.   Such a practice encouraged the use of baskets, which some time later would be known as picnic baskets. Early baskets for this purpose were typically made of wicker and supplied with sturdy handles for carrying. Often the interiors were lined with cloth or even corduroy, sometimes in a cheerful and colourful manner.   The specifics of a picnic did not appear in the English language until the middle of the 18th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'picnic' began to appear around 1748. It referred grandly to a "fashionable social entertainment in which each person contributed a share of provisions."   It further suggested the event as "a pleasure party, including an excursion to some spot in the country where all partake of a repast out of doors."   Research by Margaret Visser, author of the book The Rituals of Dinner, suggests some substantial changes began to take place in the social occasion by the 1860s. Before that time, such picnics tended to be formal affairs involving regular tables and chairs simply transported outside, along with servants.   "What was formal then made a trestle-table in the open country seem exhilaratingly abandoned," notes Visser.   At that stage in the middle 19th century, the emphasis was more on the meal itself being out doors than to the 'potluck' or formal aspects of the picnic.   In his final novel in 1870, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Charles Dickens wrote of a Miss Twinkleton and the contribution of herself and a veal pie to a picnic. As early as the 1870s, picnic suggestions were helpfully included in some American cookbooks. By the 1890s, full picnic dinners were sometimes featured in American publications.   Thanks to, among other things, the automobile, both the picnic and the established gear did quite nicely early in the 20th century. In fact, some of the most elaborate picnic travel sets were produced between 1900 and 1910.   Leathered wooden travel picnic cases were manufactured by leading firms in England. They came with side lifting handles fitted to the interior with cutlery, silver plated sandwich boxes and kettles on burners. Often, there were also rattan-wrapped beakers and flasks and rattan-wrapped salt and pepper shakers. Some even came with two thermos containers and porcelain teacups.   Wicker or leather bound travel picnic sets of the early 1900s were typically fitted with settings for anywhere from two to eight people.   Still the lure of a paper picnic continued.   In 1922, the Montgomery Ward catalog offered "finishing touches to picnics, parties, and socials" consisting mostly of crepe paper napkins, paper cups, fiber spoons and waterproof paper plates. The catalog stressed there was "no need to carry heavy glasses which must be carried home again" from the picnic. The alternative was heavy paper drinking cups which sold for 34 cents per dozen.   Even in the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s, America was singing about picnics. In this case, it was The Teddy Bears' Picnic, written in 1907 and finally given lyrics in 1932. Adding words about little bears picnicking in the woods made it a million-seller record and it remains a children's favourite today.   As the 1930s came to an end, along came the Little Pig's Picnic and Other Stories, by Margaret Wise Brown, a best-selling children's book with illustrations from Walt Disney Productions.   Sears and Roebuck offered a one-gallon "easy pour" jug for picnickers in 1937. A two-tone blue version promised to keep liquids hot or cold for eight to 10 hours, "ideal for picnics." Also advertised that year was a black enameled metal Sta-Rite Lunch Kit, which kept the "home-cooked flavour in lunches for picnics."   In 1950, three different wooden picnic baskets were featured in Montgomery Ward's spring and summer catalogue, the largest holding a service for six, including stainless steel cutlery strapped to the lid. Cups with grooved bottoms fit over the center of the plates and salt and pepper shakers came in "gay assorted colours."   Price for the 32-piece picnic outfit in a strong stained oak splint basket was $8.95. Smaller outfits were $5.95 and $3.69. At stores, picnic accessories ranged from the Red Cap picnic jug, for keeping liquids hot or cold, to the modernistic metal picnic basket in green and white plaid with a red plastic handle.   The summer of 1965 saw retailers offering various zip bag types of picnic kits. The Sears and Roebuck catalog included a tartan-layered vinyl bag, sandwich box and two one-quart vacuum bottles for $8.85.   Another choice in the late 1960s was the $25 Ted Williams 48-quart aluminum cooler. It needed no ice, the consumer simply filled two removable cooling cells with water and froze them overnight. The baseball legend's name was also represented on various insulated jugs and a steel ice chest.   Meanwhile, Sears was offering "massive picnic sets," meaning round or square redwood tables and benches. The entire outfit, complete with bright green umbrella, ranged from $29.95 to $52.95.   "Picnics are personal," observes The Food Timeline, edited by Lynne Olver. "A celebration of human spirit, culinary diversity and adventure. We choose the foods we serve, our dining partners, and the venue."   Photo 1: Summer of 1965 Sears picnic set, including umbrella and redwood table   Photo 2: Wooden full-service picnic basket offered in 1950 by Montgomery Ward   Photo 3: Early 1900 Drew & Sons picnic set for six. Made in England (Skinners)   Photo 4: 1950s Red Cap picnic jug for keeping liquids hot or cold   Robert Reed has written on antiques and collectibles for more than two decades. He has also authored 15 books, including his recently released Antiques and Collectible Dictionary, available from www.collectorbooks.com       Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2009 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster