My Tag Sale Finds

I wasn't able to purchase as much as I would have liked at Martha's Great American Tag Sale, the proceeds of which benefit the Martha Stewart Center for Living, a geriatric facility at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York. I was limited by what I could safely bring home with me across the border into Canada in my small car, and by that bothersome exchange rate! What I did find, however, were items that 'sparked joy' the moment I saw them. Below is my 'show and tell' gallery.

I have wanted one of these L.E. Smith lidded caramel glass dishes for a very long time. They were originally produced for the Martha by Mail catalog in the early 2000s. There weren't very many on hand and they went very quickly. Thankfully my friend Tim knew that I wanted one and was generous enough to reserve one for me. 

I've always loved the warm tone of the caramel glass and the very interesting acorn and squirrel motif. These dishes were shown in the catalog as soup bowls, perfect for a Thanksgiving table setting. I am hoping to find one more of these to keep this one company. I will simply display them in my china cabinet. 

Another fortuitous find was this Martha by Mail tote bag, which also sold in the early 2000s for $88. I found it hiding under a pile of wrapping paper in one of the sale barns on Martha's property. It did not have a price tag but it was sold to me for a mere $10! It's in pristine condition and I love the sturdiness of the canvas. It has three pockets on the outside and one pocket on the inside. Its dimensions are very large and you can get quite a bit in there. 

The authentic Martha by Mail tag!

In the same barn, I found this slightly sun-faded jade green scrapbook, which was also sold through the catalog. It is linen covered and the paper inside is acid-free with each page separated by a transparent sheet of velum for further protection. At the risk of sounding like a grandpa, they really don't make them like this anymore. This was only $30.

When I got home I discovered some of the pages were already decorated with old photographs. I wrote to Martha with a photograph of this page asking if any of the photos were of importance to her and offered to send them back. She did not want them back so there they shall remain! I wonder who these people are?

My favourite find is this Victorian wicker plant stand that Martha had at her home on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton, New York. Martha says she painted it herself using one of her Martha Stewart Signature colours from Fine Paints of Europe. I simply couldn't resist it and Martha was very glad I got it. I love its pentagonal shape. I have a Boston fern in a vintage Anthropologie flower pot sitting on top. I think it works nicely. 

There were numerous rolling pins on sale - various types and lengths, made of various materials, all from her personal collection from one of her various houses. I chose this one, which 'spoke to me' when I saw it in a large ceramic canister filled with its brethren. Vincent Manzo, the antiques expert on hand to help shoppers, ensured that Martha signed this for me: a very nice gesture! She happily obliged. (Lucky me!)

I purchased this antique American vase for my mother. The mark on the base was not legible but I did see a "U.S.A." stamp, very faded, along the perimeter of the base. I love its proportions and the two 'handles' on the side. Very unique.

Not shown are the other gifts I purchased for family: a beautiful modern cake server made in Italy, also for my mother. Her two best friends received Victorian silver cake servers. I love knowing that each of those cake servers likely made an appearance at one of Martha's dinner parties in one of her lovely homes. Each one of these items will be treasured!

Click here to learn more about the Martha Stewart Center for Living. 

A Martha by Mail Cookie-Cutter Index

It gives me great pleasure to share this. At last, Martha Stewart collectors now have access to the most thorough and complete index of Martha by Mail cookie cutter sets produced for the Catalog For Living. It was created by my friend David Pantoja of the Good Things by David blog, where he shares all manner of inspiring ideas for the home. (I urge you to follow his blog if you don't already).

The index was created to fill a void for collectors, many of whom write to David or myself, interested in learning more about Martha by Mail merchandise - most specifically the cookie cutter sets, which are currently the most highly-prized and collectible Martha by Mail items on the second-hand market. We can now happily and confidently refer to this fantastic index for many of the answers we're looking for!

It is a highly-detailed and well-organized list that I know any collector of the Martha by Mail cookie cutters will benefit from. Here's how David structured the index:

"I divided the sets into two lists, each organized by product number.  The product number indicates the order in which each cutter was offered/released for sale through Martha by Mail.  One list consists of the large, closed-back cookie cutters that were sold in sets of two, with the exception of the Nordstrom Teddy Bear and the copper trays (noted by an asterisk).  The other list consists of all of the sets that were made with open-backs and sold as boxed sets.  All of these were made out of copper, except where noted."

 

Please click here to see the full index! Thank you, David!

Throwback Thursday: Martha by Mail Kits

Lovers of the Martha by Mail catalog will no doubt remember the vast array of craft kits that was created for the venture. It was Martha's ingenious idea to create kits containing all of the materials needed for various craft projects shown in the pages of Martha Stewart Living magazine. From handmade soaps to lip balms, paper flowers to Valentine's Day quilling projects, there was probably a Martha by Mail kit to help you create whatever your heart desired. Each kit included a fully-illustrated instruction booklet to help you complete the project, step by step. One of the best kits - and one of the first - was the pie-making kit, which came with a Martha by Mail pie tin, a pastry brush, all of the tools necessary for making a pie and a copy of "Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts" book, which contained recipes for her best-loved pies. On this Throwback Thursday, I thought I'd share a few of the kits here. Was there a kit you especially loved? Let me know in the comments section!

25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 3

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 3: MARTHA BY MAIL

In the June 1995 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, in her monthly letter to readers, Martha made an announcement:

"During the summer, we will use a small portion of our time on Lifetime to introduce you to some of the products we are producing in response to your requests. We are doing this to help you obtain items you have found interesting and desirable, such as a collection of peony plants or a wonderful cake decorating kit. Initially many of these test products will be in very limited supply, so be sure to order quickly to avoid disappointment. As our business grows and we learn more about the production and merchandising of these items, we will keep you informed. Please let us know the kinds of things you want and need..." 

This brief introduction in 1995 was the beginning of what would eventually become known as "Martha by Mail" - a mail-order catalog business that would grow to become an online boutique where readers of Martha's magazine could buy many of the beautiful items and supplies shown in its pages.

The response from readers was phenomenal and by 1996, the first Martha by Mail insert was included in the magazine. It contained a wide range of kits, gifts, tools for the home and garden, vases, flower bulbs, aprons, cookie cutters and many more items.

The first Martha by Mail insert, June 1996.

The following June, in 1996, Martha's letter was even more resolute about the products she wanted to bring to her newly-founded catalog and offered this manifesto about their purpose:

"First, our products must enable us to fully accomplish a project or task inspired by the magazine or TV show. Second, Martha by Mail kits must come with full how-to booklets and other vital information to allow you to take full advantage of the projects. Third, the products must turn dreamers into doers. Last, quality is our standard bearer..." 

It was the quality and uniqueness of the products that fans flocked to. The products were not found anywhere else and the buyer felt almost like an insider, browsing the prop rooms at the magazine or through Martha's personal pantry. The inspiration was warm and the experience was very boutique. Customers would fill out their request forms (very traditional by today's technological standards) and mail them in with their payment. A few weeks later, their packages would arrive in beautiful boxes emblazoned with the Martha by Mail logo, a large "M" with a bee and hive motif.

There were 69 catalogs in all, plus three magazine inserts, bearing the Martha by Mail imprint. Click here to see them all!

By 1997, monthly Martha by Mail catalogs were being mailed out to consumers with more and more products on offer. In 1998, the business moved online with its own website, marthabymail.com. Now it was even easier for shoppers to peruse the products and have them delivered to their homes. 

Martha Stewart Living was handling everything, from the design of the products to the shipment of them. This eventually proved to be too costly for the company to maintain and the catalog division was closed at the end of the fiscal year in 2005. 

Today, there is nothing in the Martha Stewart lexicon more collectible than Martha by Mail items. Even the catalogs themselves can fetch between $30 and $50 a copy. (This is astonishing, considering the catalogs were mailed out for free!) The most collectible pieces are those that are most rare, of course, and those that are in the best condition or in their original boxes. Martha by Mail collaborated with some of the most respected manufacturers in the world to make their wares, including Wedgwood, Burleigh, Steiff and Waterford. It is the cookie cutter sets, however, that seem to have the most demand. Where else will you find a giant box filled with copper cookie cutters inspired by the animals of Noah's Ark, or giant ones in the shapes of moons and stars. 

No one did it better. For fans, Martha by Mail is one of the most sorely missed ventures.

The base of a beautiful whiteware mixing bowl from the Martha by Mail collection. From the home of collector David Pantoja. 

Martha by Mail on 'Internet Archive Wayback Machine'

A reader recently shared a link that I had never heard of before: Internet Archive Wayback Machine. This nonprofit was founded in 1996 and has since archived 435 BILLION web pages saved over time, the majority of which are no longer active. The group's purpose includes offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.

One such archived website is the Martha by Mail shopping site, where you can view and read about dozens of original Martha by Mail products online, as they appeared on the marthastewart.com website in the early aughts. I was so excited to visit the many links and read about the products that I never really had the chance to buy at the time. It is torturous, in a way, since you cannot actually buy any of these long-defunct products, but it's still a nice trip down memory lane and the perfect place to visit if you are a Martha historian like me! Click here to see the Martha by Mail archive. Most of the links work but some are broken.

David's Martha By Mail Cookie Cutter Sets

When I started this blog, it was one of my hopes that it would bring together a group of like-minded people with a shared interest in all things Martha. I had no idea I would be corresponding today with dozens of people from around the world, many of whom write to me with questions - and in some cases answers! - regarding Martha's ventures and wares. 

When it comes to answers regarding Martha by Mail, my go-to source is David Pantoja of Philadelphia. A longtime Martha Stewart collector and reader of this blog, David quickly became a friend of mine. I was really touched to learn that his blog, Good Things By David, was inspired by Martha Moments. (He even wrote a very nice post about Martha Moments that I was very touched by.)

Good Things By David is a beautiful showcase of his talent; David is a wonderful cook and baker and is very interested in homekeeping. In fact, he is part of a growing number of male homemakers and has given himself the title of CEO at Home. I love it! David and his partner live in a beautiful historic home in rural Philadelphia that David tends to with love and care each day. I urge you to visit his blog to discover not only his vast collection of Martha by Mail collectibles, but also his wonderful culinary creations and homekeeping tips.

David made good use of Martha's mail-order catalog when it was still functioning in the late 1990s and early 2000s. His collection is quite extensive and impressive. He has all of the cookie-cutter sets, many of the mixing bowls and cake stands, the much-coveted Turkey Hill spice rack and spice canisters and various plates and platters with the Martha by Mail imprint. 

I asked David if he would send me photos of some of his cookie-cutter collection for my archives here, since they are the most highly-prized and most sought-after collectibles from the Martha by Mail catalog. He happily obliged. Below are some examples of his sets. 

This photo includes the Alphabet Cookie Cutters, which were very popular, Halloween Marshmallow Cutters, Beautiful Bug Cookie Cutters, Victorian Ornament Cookie Cutters, Evergreen Cookie Cutters and Canape Leaf Cutters.

Many of the early sets of cookie cutters were embossed with the Martha By Mail logo.

The cookies themselves look beautiful once they are baked and decorated.

All of the Martha By Mail cookie cutters were made of copper. These ones, shown above, are oversized and were sold in pairs and had holiday themes: Prancing Reindeer & Snowflake; Candy Cane & Snowman, Hatching Bunny & Hen, Gingerbread House & Christmas Tree, Mouse King & Nutcracker, Star & Moon. 

The Star & Moon was the first cookie-cutter set to be sold through Martha By Mail.

The Hatching Bunny & Hen set is David's favourite from the oversized holiday pairs.

The oversized cutters in this photo, and the one below, include: Papillon and Sunflower, Great Owl and Belfry Bat, Mighty Acorn and Sugar Squirrel, Seahorse and Nautilus, Chubby Pumpkin and Tom Turkey. This is David's favourite set. They are extremely valuable and almost never become available for resale.

These cookie cutters are extremely large.

The acorn and the squirrel cookies look beautiful when they're fully decorated, as shown in the Martha By Mail instruction booklet that accompanied the set.

There were three sets in the Noah's Arc series of cookie cutters, which is by far the most popular and well-known series from the Martha By Mail collection. Each set contained nine copper cookie cutters. Shown above is David's complete menagerie.

When the sets arrived in the mail they came in a house-shaped box filled with paper straw.

The third set of Noah's Arc Cookie Cutters came with a plastic arc template to create the ship itself.

The templates that came inside each box reveal the cutter shapes in silhouette. The complete Noah's Arc, with animals from all three sets, would include: hawk, giraffe, alligator, bear, donkey, sheep, kangaroo, elephant, lion, snake, ostrich, tiger, hippo, rhino, seal, penguin, moose, camel, owl, lama, turtle, skunk, platapus, monkey, peacock, buffalo and gazelle. 

Martha by Mail Tissue Paper

One benefit of my periodic purges of closets and storage spaces in my home is the occasional discovery I make: a card from a long-lost friend, a childhood drawing, unused stationery. Yesterday, the discovery yielded a Martha Moment, so I thought I'd share. What I found was several sheets of the Martha by Mail tissue paper that was used by her 'busy bees' to wrap the items purchased through the catalog or online. When MBM closed down in 2004, a friend of mine in Las Vegas purchased hundreds of dollars worth of Martha's merchandise before it was too late. An added bonus was the stack of Martha by Mail gift tissue he was left with. Generous at heart, and recognizing my interest in Martha ephemera, he sent me numerous sheets of the stuff, pressed neatly between firm cardboard and packaged in a padded envelope. The sheets are quite thick for tissue paper, tinted a light cream tone and decorated with the Martha by Mail bee logo. I've already secured one sheet into my scrapbook and I may use the rest as page liners for another project I'm working on. Reduce, reuse, reimagine! I think that's my new motto.

TIPS FOR STORING TISSUE PAPER:

Check your stationery store for a polyester-film folder with a sheet of alkaline-buffered paper as the backing.

Slip the unfolded tissue in the folder. Avoid using staples or paper clips as these may cause permanent markings on the paper, including holes, creases and tears.

Keep the folders in file holders and boxes constructed of high-quality, acid-free, alkaline-buffered materials.

Choose a cool and dry location such as a closet in an air-conditioned room as a storage place for the boxes.

Remembering: Martha by Mail (The Catalog For Living)

In the June 1995 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, in her monthly letter to readers, Martha made an announcement:

"During the summer, we will use a small portion of our time on Lifetime to introduce you to some of the products we are producing in response to your requests. We are doing this to help you obtain items you have found interesting and desirable, such as a collection of peony plants or a wonderful cake decorating kit. Initially many of these test products will be in very limited supply, so be sure to order quickly to avoid disappointment. As our business grows and we learn more about the production and merchandising of these items, we will keep you informed. Please let us know the kinds of things you want and need..." 

Imagine being able to buy some of the delightful crafts, dishes, vases and storage units shown in the pages of Martha Stewart Living magazine. That was the thinking behind a mail-order catalog business that the company launched to help supply the demand from consumers. Everything from furniture to craft supplies, preserves and confections to gardening clogs, wreaths and cookie-cutters were on offer. The venture started off small. Several issues of the magazine that year were accompanied by mail-order inserts called "Martha By Mail." The demand was so high, however, that Martha soon realized she would have to develop an in-house merchandising team to design and create new products for this special division of the company. When marthastewart.com launched the following year, the Martha by Mail retail component was added to the online fold, which not only facilitated the ordering process, but also widened the market.
In 1998, "Martha by Mail" was strong enough to become an official catalog business; consumers could subscribe to the catalog and order any number of goods featured on its pages or online at marthabymail.com. What made the catalog so unique was the high quality of the product and the unique designs that were simply not available anywhere else. Many of the pieces were recreations of Martha's original antiques, others were new designs that were filtered through Martha's personal tastes as a guide to their level of quality and appeal. There was an air of exclusivity, rarity and even community in the Martha by Mail venture. 

The division was initially headed up by Fritz Karch, a style editor and the senior vice president in charge of product development. (As Martha by Mail expanded, Fritz moved into an editorial position at the magazine. Many of us remember him as the Collecting editor!) Fritz assembled a team of eighteen 'hunters and gatherers' to create, discover and develop new products for the catalog and the online store.

Among the first products to be issued were craft and decorating kits that were designed to make it simpler for readers of Martha Stewart Living magazine to create the projects shown in its pages. Shown above are the beautiful instruction booklets for a lip-balm kit and a cake decorating kit: each came with all the supplies necessary to carry out the projects with confidence.

Martha and her merchandising team partnered with some of the world's leading makers and manufacturers of fine household items from around the world to create the products they designed: L.E. Smith, Mosser, Frankoma, Robinson Ronsbottom, NordicWare, Wilton, Ateco, Lloyd Flanders, Sterling China, Broggi, Chiarugi, Krosnos, Steiff, Wedgwood, Juliska, Janaer Glas, Rainer, Michael Bonne Copperworks, Fenton, Bernhardt Furniture, Eleni's, Niman Ranch and CK Products were just some of the silversmiths, food producers, foundries, glassworks, ceramicists and furniture makers that provided products for the catalog. From England to Germany to Italy to Japan, and all across the United States, Martha by Mail brought together a world of tradition and craftsmanship that was unparalleled in the online-catalog business at the time.

My friend David is an avid Martha by Mail collector and he has many of the prized items so many of us came to love, including the caramel-coloured glass cake stands by L.E. Smith, Fireking Jadeite, and a plethora of copper cookie cutter sets in myriad shapes and sizes. These are his images, above. Visit his blog to learn more about Martha by Mail.

While the business was successful for several years, its greatest challenge was maintaining a profit. It was an expensive project to run and it proved difficult for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to oversee not only the rapid design of products, with the promise of new offerings in each month's catalog, but also to manage its delivery processes. The catalog business was closed in the summer of 2004, which was also (not coincidentally) the summer Martha was sentenced to prison.

For collectors of the Martha Stewart brand, there is nothing more valuable than the products that were featured in the pages of the "Martha by Mail" catalogs. If the products are sealed in their original packaging, the items can fetch two or three times what they originally sold for. (Of particular interest to collectors are the cookie-cutter sets, the unique cake molds, cake stands and baking pans, the jadeite collections and some of the dinnerware and serveware sets.)

The catalogs themselves are highly collectible. At online auction sites, such as eBay, a single copy of the catalog can generate between $8 and $30, depending on rarity and condition, which is quite astonishing considering the catalogs were originally mailed to subscribers for free! A complete catalog set, like the one shown below, could fetch well over $1,000. Each of the catalogs that were issued by the company are shown below, in order of appearance, beginning with the early inserts that were included in the magazine. A very special thank-you to my friend Kenn for these scans!

These early inserts were included in the magazine: an introduction to the catalog to readers.

 

The imagery used on the covers of the catalogs was always simple but arresting in its beauty.

In 2002, when it became apparent that criminal charges would likely be laid against Martha Stewart the company renamed the catalog to "Martha Stewart The Catalog For Living".

By 2004 and the impending trial of Martha Stewart, her name was significantly downsized on the covers. While the design may have changed, the products remained excellent!