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Pumpkin spice: A joke today, used for centuries

For the past few years, the arrival of fall has meant two things: pumpkin spice in everything and jokes about pumpkin spice in everything. The flavor may have exploded in popularity during the last decade or so, but it’s been around much longer than that. This tin by the Frank Tea and Spice Co., which sold for $153 at Morford’s Antique Advertising Auctions (AntiqueAdvertising.com), is proof.

The Frank Tea & Spice Company, probably best known as the inventor of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, was founded in Cincinnati in 1896 by salesman Jacob Frank and his brothers Emil and Charles. By the early 1900s, it was the fourth-largest manufacturer of spices in the United States. Pumpkin pie was well established by then. Indigenous Americans cultivated, cooked and ate pumpkin for thousands of years. British colonizers didn’t take long to use this American vegetable the same way they did most other foods: putting it in pies.

The first known recipe for a “pumpion pye,” as it was spelled then, is in a 17th-century British cookbook, but it’s not quite the same as the pie we know today. The recipe instructs the cook to slice the “pumpion” and fry the slices, then bake them in a crust with apples and raisins. A recipe for custard-style pumpkin pie like the one we know today appeared in the first cookbook written and published by an American, 1796’s American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. Favorite spices like ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon crept into these recipes by the 19th century, and this version of the pie has been gracing holiday tables ever since … and now inspires a multitude of other treats.

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Q: I am looking for a buyer for a leather jacket. It is handmade and signed with an old Bic pen “Hapiglop Woodstock.”

A: Hapiglop was a leather shop in Woodstock, New York, in the 1960s and ’70s. We have found out very little about them, but they apparently made and sold clothing like leather jackets and fringed suede vests that were popular with the hippie counterculture. Their clothing tags had “Hapiglop” written in a style that looked like handwriting. Any clothing in wearable condition can be sold, and vintage clothing is extremely popular right now. Leather often gets better with age; many buyers prefer the worn-in feel and distressed look of vintage leather jackets to new ones. Contact vintage clothing stores in your area to see if they are interested in the jacket. Another possibility is selling online on a website like eBay or Etsy, or one of the popular clothing resale sites like Thredup, Poshmark or TheRealReal.

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CURRENT PRICES

Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.

Toy, car, AMT, Cadillac Coup de Ville, light blue, dark blue roof, friction, dealer promotion, Birmingham, Michigan, 8 inches, $60.

Bottle, flask, wheat sheaf, eight-point star on reverse, calabash shape, aqua, 19th century, 9 1/4 inches, $65.

Satsuma, box, lid, round, wisteria and peony flowers, figures in fan shape, landscape around side, three buttress feet, c. 1900, 3 1/2 x 6 inches, $65.

Pottery-contemporary, vase, red ground, black figures, geometrics, two rows of insects, stylized flowers, cup shape, terra-cotta, Mariko Swisher, 8 inches, $85.

Print, Shaw & Nodder, Harlequin Hummingbird, perched on branch, engraving, hand colored, woven paper, The Naturalist’s Miscellany, 9 x 5 1/2 inches, $120.

Rug, Navajo, Ganado style, column of three diamonds, cream, red, brown and black serrated trim, wool, mid-20th century, 46 x 30 inches, $310.

Wooden, cup, saffron, lid, ball finial, painted, strawberry vine, red and green trim, pedestal base, round stepped foot, Joseph Lehn, 6 inches, $400.

Furniture, frame, gilt bronze, enamel, painted courting scenes, leafy trim, oval, easel back, France, c. 1900, 9 x 6 inches, pair, $1,190.

Starting at $4.50/week.

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