Jewel Tea Man

Jewel Tea Man

Noel Laflin

 Oct. 15, 2015

There sits atop an old vanity in my bedroom a beautiful Autumn Leaf water pitcher and matching bowl.  They were my mother’s, bought some fifty years ago through the Jewel Tea Company.  The stamp on the bottom of each piece confirms their authenticity.  You can find them and a dozen other Autumn Leaf cups, saucers, flour sifters, bowls, cookie jars, tea sets, etc. in antique stores and on EBay. There are a jillion of them out there, but the real ones were made exclusively for the Jewel Tea Company.   Knockoffs will not have the unique stamp on the bottom.   Mom had the real stuff of course and as a sentimental adult nowadays, I am happy to see them still around my house.

Now, when I was a kid I always looked forward to visits from our very own Jewel Tea man for entirely different reasons.  I could have cared less for pitchers and bowls when I was seven.

And although the guy who showed up every week or two at our home in his familiar brown company truck was a neighbor who lived just one street over, when he crossed our threshold with delivery basket in hand, I could have sworn it was Santa himself coming through our door.

I recently asked my sister if she remembered the name of this neighbor, as she usually has a good memory for this sort of thing.

She said she did not.  And although she did remember him coming to our house for years, she had always thought he was called the Joe Tea Man back then.

The Jewel Tea Company catalogue listed everything from those Autumn Leaf pieces to fresh ground coffee, school supplies, clothing, small appliances, cleansers, and gift cards - none of which was of any interest to me when I was a child of the 1950’s.

No, what always caught my eye were the pictures and descriptions of the toys, chips, and candy they had to offer.  And as my mother did not drive, I believe she was somewhat dependant on the Jewel Tea man to report to Santa directly when it came to my Christmas and birthday wish list.

It’s just a shame that old catalogue didn’t list puppies.