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Monterey California Holiday Ornament - Cannery Sardine Tin

Monterey California Holiday Ornament - Cannery Sardine Tin

Regular price $28.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $28.00 USD
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A sardine tin with the lid rolled back on its key, a row of sardines inside, the cannery behind. Cannery Row's whole story fits in one can.

For forty years Monterey packed more sardines than anywhere on earth, a quarter-million tons in the peak year, with the canneries running all night and the whistles calling the workers down the hill. Then the fish disappeared, almost all at once, in the early 1950s. The canneries went dark and a novelist's name for the street stuck.

The Row is restaurants and the aquarium now, but the buildings are the same, and the smell the old-timers describe is still the first thing they mention.

A sardine tin is an honest souvenir of a boom and a bust. The red label band is the only color, and the key is right where the cannery workers left it.

Cannery Row was built on the Monterey sardines, and the sardine tin is the emblem of Steinbeck's Cannery Row and all of Monterey Bay. This sardine ornament is a fish ornament and Monterey Christmas ornament, a Monterey souvenir and piece of Monterey history for anyone who has walked the old cannery street.

Every Monterey ornament ships ready to give. Hang it on the tree, in a window, off a lamp, or send one to the person who misses Monterey most.

3-inch faceted crystal glass ornament, white-backed print, line-drawn in 1880s engraving style, your choice of white or gold gift box.


QUICK FACTS — MONTEREY CA CRYSTAL ORNAMENT — CANNERY SARDINE TIN

Town: Monterey, California

Founded: June 3, 1770; capital 1777

Known for: California’s first capital; the 1794 Royal Presidio Chapel; Colton Hall and the 1849 constitutional convention; Cannery Row

Art: Cannery Sardine Tin, original Merlin Classics engraving

Blank: 3-inch (76 mm) round clear crystal glass ornament, faceted gem-cut edge

Print: white-backed for contrast; red ribbon hanger

Packaging: white or gold gift box, chosen at checkout

Made to order in the USA



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Wear Local. Feed Local. Stay Classic.

Product FAQs

How does your sizing work?

Every item is made to order, so please check the size chart on this page before you buy. Women's fitted tees run small; size up for a looser fit. Caps are one size with an adjustable strap.

How are items made and when will they arrive?

We make each item to order using premium blanks, embroidery and soft-hand prints. Production takes 2-5 business days (weekends and holidays excluded), then 4-10 days in transit via USPS, UPS or FedEx to U.S. addresses; most orders arrive within 6-15 business days. You'll get a tracking link the moment it ships. Any current shipping offer is shown in the bar at the top of every page and applies automatically at checkout, no code needed.

How do I send a gift?

Enter the recipient's address as the shipping address and your own as the billing address at checkout. Nothing ships with a price; the package includes a plain packing slip. Tracking goes to your email, not theirs. For birthdays and holidays, order two weeks ahead to be safe.

What's the return policy?

Made-to-order items can't be returned or exchanged for size or color, so please use the size chart and photos before ordering. If anything arrives defective, misprinted or damaged, send a photo and your order number within 30 days and we'll replace it or refund you.

How do I care for my item?

Apparel: wash cold, inside out, with like colors; no bleach; tumble dry low or hang dry. Embroidered pieces: iron inside out to protect the stitching. Caps: spot clean. Printed glasses and water bottles: hand wash only, no dishwasher, so the artwork lasts. Mugs and engraved glasses are dishwasher safe. Any item-specific care notes are in the description above.

Who makes this?

Merlin Classics is a small Connecticut brand making original retro designs for the towns people love. Every piece is printed, embroidered or engraved to order in the USA, and the business supports hunger relief in the communities our collections celebrate.

From the room where California wrote its constitution to the canneries that fed the bay, Monterey is the original California — adobe walls, cannery tin, and the deep blue water that ran through all of it. Our Monterey designs gather that layered history into wearable form. From California's first capital to the Sardine Capital of the World: wear a little of Monterey's original-California history.

But Monterey's deeper claim is older and grander: this is where California began. Before Sacramento, before the gold, Monterey was the capital — first of Spanish Alta California from 1777, then of Mexican California, the one seat of government the territory kept under three flags. And in 1849, when California was about to become a state, the delegates met here at Colton Hall to write its first constitution. For most of a century the business of California was done in this town of whitewashed adobe on the edge of a deep blue bay, and Monterey collected the territory's firsts almost by default — the first theater, the first brick house, and the first printing press and newspaper in California all began here.

Why People Visit Monterey

Monterey rewards visitors who want the original California — the first capital, a town of 18th-century adobes, and a deep, wild bay. People come for the Path of History and Cannery Row, for Point Lobos and the marine sanctuary, and for an easy, scenic stretch of Central Coast where Spanish-colonial heritage and a famous waterfront sit side by side.

Monterey California Merlin Classics retro vintage logo featuring the California grizzly bear and California Republic Est. 1850