{"product_id":"heritage-lobster-shack","title":"Lobster · When It Was Cheap · Heritage Holiday Ornament","description":"\u003cp style=\"margin: 0 0 18px 0;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/merlinclassics.store\/collections\/heritage-ornaments\" style=\"display: block; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center; background: #F0EAD6; color: #0b0b0b; border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 12px 16px; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none;\"\u003eMore Heritage Ornaments\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLobster.\u003c\/strong\u003e A cooked lobster on a white plate at the end of a working wharf, around 1890: a shingled fish house, wooden pots stacked by the door, a dory tied alongside. The plate is the joke. For most of American history, nobody would have served a lobster on the good china.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEarly New England accounts describe lobsters so plentiful that storms left them heaped along the shore, and for generations they were cheap food, eaten by the poor and often cut up for bait. A much-repeated story says servants once bargained to be fed lobster no more than a few times a week; no such contract has ever turned up, but the story shows what lobster was worth. By the 1840s canneries were packing it in tins, and the lobstering trade grew up around lobstermen hauling wooden slat traps, which they called pots, from small open boats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen the cities found it. Live lobsters began reaching inland markets by rail, dealers built lobster pounds to hold the catch for market, hotels and restaurants put them on the menu, and the near-shore catch thinned. By the end of the 1800s the old poor man's food was on its way to becoming a luxury, and the shacks on the wharf were selling to summer people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur own engraving-style drawing of a shoreline fishing wharf around 1890, set in crystal so the shingles and the slats of the pots hold under the lights; the lobster supplies the red. Three inches across.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor lobster lovers and lobstermen, fishermen and seafood people, shoreline families anywhere, and everyone who has paid market price and wondered how it got that way. \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/merlinclassics.store\/pages\/landing-page-charity\"\u003eProfits go to hunger relief\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFaceted crystal, three inches across, with a white back so the line work reads clearly from anywhere in the room once the tree is lit. Red ribbon. Boxed in gold or white, your call at checkout. Ships free anywhere in the U.S.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/merlinclassics.store\/collections\/heritage-ornaments\" style=\"color: #6b6b6b; text-decoration: underline;\"\u003eMore Heritage Ornaments\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"mc-meta\" style=\"display:none\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta name=\"keywords\" content=\"lobstering, lobster fishing, lobster facts, lobster season, lobster market price, lobster pound, food history, cooked lobster, lobstering boat, lobstering season, lobster history, history of lobster, lobster prison food, why is lobster expensive, when did lobster become expensive, lobsterman, lobstermen, lobster bait, american food history, lobster ornament, lobster ornaments, lobster christmas ornament, lobster christmas ornaments, lobster gifts, lobster themed gifts, seafood gifts, gifts for food lovers, lobster cannery, lobster smack, lobster delicacy, lobster luxury food, lobster price history, colonial lobster, lobster poor mans food, lobster fishing history, shoreline gifts, gifts for seafood lovers, gifts for lobster lovers, gifts for lobstermen, lobster gift ideas, lobster christmas gifts, seafood lover gifts, commercial lobstering, lobster history facts, vintage lobster\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobstering\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster fishing\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster history\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster pound\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobsterman\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"cooked lobster\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster ornament\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster christmas ornament\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster gifts\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"gifts for lobster lovers\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"food history\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster season\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster cannery\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta property=\"article:tag\" content=\"lobster market price\"\u003e\n\u003cscript type=\"application\/ld+json\"\u003e{\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\", \"@type\": \"FAQPage\", \"mainEntity\": [{\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What does the Lobster heritage ornament show?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"A cooked red lobster on a white plate at the end of a working fishing wharf around 1890, with a shingled fish house, stacked wooden lobster pots, a dory and a catboat. The art is drawn as an 1880s-style engraving; the lobster is the only color.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"Was lobster really cheap in early America?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Yes. Early New England accounts describe lobsters so plentiful that they washed up along the shore, and for generations lobster was inexpensive food and common bait. The popular story of servants limiting lobster in their contracts has never been documented.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"When did lobster become expensive?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"Over the later 1800s, as canneries, rail shipping and lobster pounds carried the catch to city markets and restaurants, near-shore stocks thinned and lobster moved from everyday fare toward luxury.\"}}, {\"@type\": \"Question\", \"name\": \"What is the ornament made of, and how is it packaged?\", \"acceptedAnswer\": {\"@type\": \"Answer\", \"text\": \"A three-inch faceted crystal ornament with a white back and a red ribbon, boxed in gold or white, shipped free anywhere in the U.S. Profits go to hunger relief.\"}}]}\u003c\/script\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Merlin Classics","offers":[{"title":"One size \/ Circle + White Gift Packaging","offer_id":50611879608537,"sku":"26719564640626717615","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"One size \/ Circle + Gold Gift Packaging","offer_id":50611879641305,"sku":"14746007507235648030","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0768\/9374\/9465\/files\/7494103207965235905_2048_9e8e6962-1800-4a2b-8784-293b8009b0f3.jpg?v=1791240266","url":"https:\/\/merlinclassics.store\/products\/heritage-lobster-shack","provider":"Merlin Classics","version":"1.0","type":"link"}