Vintage Salty and Peppy Turned Wood Chef Salt and Pepper Shakers, White Hat and Red Hat
These are vintage Salty and Peppy salt and pepper shakers made of turned natural wood in the shape of chefs, each built from a mushroom-shaped toque, an egg-shaped head and a rounded body. Salty wears an off-white hat with Salty in red cursive on the band, big round black eyes and a blue zigzag collar; Peppy wears a bright red hat with Peppy in white cursive, closed sleepy eyes and a cream scalloped bib. Both have maroon cheek patches and five holes drilled in the hat top. Sellers list Salty and Peppy wooden shakers as made in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s. No maker is known.
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Salty and Peppy, a mid-century novelty
Small turned and hand-painted wooden shakers named Salty and Peppy were imported from Japan in quantity in the mid-century years and appear in several forms, including chefs and pigs. They were inexpensive souvenir and gift-shop items, so many survive with flaking paint.
Two turned wood chefs, one in a white hat and one in a red hat
The vintage Salty and Peppy wooden chef salt and pepper shakers are a pair of tall, turned wood figures built from stacked rounded shapes: a puffy mushroom-shaped chef's toque on top, an egg-shaped head in the middle and a smaller rounded body below. Their wood is left natural, a pale honey tan, with painted details. Salty wears a white chef hat (an off-white cream paint) and Peppy wears a red one (a bright tomato red paint), so you can tell salt from pepper at a glance.
Each hat has a hatband with the chef's name in hand-painted, slanted cursive script: Salty in red letters on the white band, Peppy in white letters on the red band. Salty's face has large round black eyes with white highlights, thin blue lines fanning up from the eyes like lashes or brows, a tiny blue nose and a red smile. A blue zigzag collar or bow tie is painted on the body. Peppy has a sleepy, closed-eye face with curved blue brows, short lashes, a small nose and a red smile, and a cream scalloped bib or collar on the body. Both have large maroon, a deep wine red, patches painted on the sides of the head like rosy cheeks or ears.
The salt and pepper holes are drilled straight into the top of each hat: five holes in an X pattern on Salty and five holes in a loose cluster on Peppy. A visible seam where the hat meets the head shows the hat is a separate turned piece. No Japan stamp or sticker was checked, since the bases were not photographed.
On this copy: no measurements were taken. Salty's white paint is crackled and flaking heavily on the hat and hatband, showing bare wood, and Peppy's red paint is chipped around the hatband, the lettering and one of the pour holes. The faces and cheek patches are faded and rubbed, and both pieces have grime and age darkening.
- Shape: Stacked turned wood chef figures: mushroom toque, egg-shaped head, rounded body
- Material: Turned wood with paint
- Colors: Natural wood (pale honey tan); Salty hat white (off-white cream); Peppy hat red (bright tomato red); cheeks maroon (deep wine red); features black, blue and red
- Names: Salty and Peppy in slanted hand-painted cursive on the hatbands
- Salty: White hat, red name, big round black eyes, blue zigzag collar
- Peppy: Red hat, white name, closed sleepy eyes, cream scalloped bib
- Holes: Five drilled holes in the top of each hat
- Marks: No maker or country mark seen; bases not photographed
- This copy: Not measured; heavy flaking on Salty's white paint, chips on Peppy's red hat, faded faces, grime
Salty's hatband: Salty Peppy's hatband: Peppy
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Comparable listings, ranked by delivered price
Live listings on ebay.com, checked October 2026. Asking prices, not sold prices.
About the Salty and Peppy Wooden Chef Shakers
Which one is salt and which is pepper in Salty and Peppy shakers?
Salty, with the white hat and red name, holds salt. Peppy, with the red hat and white name, holds pepper.
Where were Salty and Peppy wooden shakers made?
Sellers list them as made in Japan, and related Salty and Peppy wooden sets are stamped Japan. The bases of this pair were not photographed, so check yours for a Japan stamp or sticker.
How old are Salty and Peppy chef shakers?
They are generally dated to the 1950s and 1960s, when painted wooden novelty shakers were imported from Japan in large numbers.
What are Salty and Peppy chef shakers worth?
Comparable listings we tracked asked $4.50 and $12.15 for a pair, plus shipping.