The Most Coveted Spice Jar Sets Collectors Are Always Searching For

Spice jars can not only fulfill our kitchen storage needs but also purely decorative wants. Some spice jars are not meant to be stowed away in a cupboard or drawer. Instead, they should become a charming element of your decor that helps set the tone of your aesthetic. While sleek and simple glass jars may be found in many kitchens today, vintage spice jars have a lot of charm and history on their own. They often evoke a cozy and nostalgic feel that we associate with kitchens designed by mothers and grandmothers. This nostalgia makes these spice jars an especially great fit for Grandmillennial home design fans and maximalist style interiors that revel in the small homey details. Some of these older space jar sets are more valuable than others, including mid-century milk glass designs — a full set of which can be quite expensive.

These glass or ceramic jars typically display craftsmanship and attention to detail that today's jars do not provide, including interesting typography, carved glass, and fun labels. They were often sold with a rack or holder for the wall or countertop that complemented their design details and helped keep spices neat and organized. Today, you can pick up individual shakers for a few dollars, but sets will cost you more, especially if purchased from antique dealers or online auctions. Collecting them slowly can help you save money and build your collection. 

One of the most valuable sets among collectors today was manufactured beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1950s, when the Griffith Laboratories Company in Chicago began packaging their spices in distinctive milk glass jars. The cloudy white glass boasts carved Art Deco-style fluting and a square design. They had an array of lids in vivid colors and their distinctive labels, which were first paper and then later printed directly on the jar.

Griffith spice jars were typically sold alone and in sets of anywhere from 8 to 24 jars, with the latter often being more valuable on the collector market today, often fetching around $200. Other popular vintage spice jars include milk glass sets from Hazel Atlas, Anchor Hocking, and McKee Glass which were usually sold as part of popular vintage dishware brand sets that were decked out in designs like botanical imagery, roosters, and Dutch windmill accents.

Mid-century milk glass jars join a number of other highly collectible spice jar sets, some hailing from the later 20th century in the 1980s and 1990s, which many nostalgic homeowners remember from their childhood kitchens. Several highly prized and desired sets were made by dishware manufacturer Lenox, including its popular botanical-themed Spice Garden jars and Spice Carousel, which featured circus animal designs on a rotating rack (and which once netted just over $1,000 on Etsy for the complete set).

Lenox's Spice Village from 1989, a ceramic set of jars shaped like houses, as well as Danbury Mint's unique Spices of the World jars, which are shaped like famous architectural landmarks, are frequently sought by collectors. Danbury's Hummel Spice Jars — a collaboration with the Goebel company who made the famous figurines – are also quite valuable finds for Hummel collectors and vintage kitchenware aficionados.