Pie birds: how old are these collectibles?

1800s, 1900s, Ceramics, Cooking, Kitchen, Vintage 3 Minutes
ceramic pie birds
Blackbird pie funnels. Even the yellow one is a classic. Photo by Andy Roberts.

How many pies today are baked with a little ceramic chimney inside that supports the crust and channels away steam so that hot fillings don’t burst out in places where they shouldn’t? Also called a pie funnel, vent, or whistle, they don’t actually have to be birds, though using a little pottery bird with dark feathers and bright yellow beak is a nice reminder of the song about four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. You are as likely to see them in a collector’s cabinet as in a pie dish, but they can be useful. Pastry crust is less likely to end up drooping or soggy when a pie funnel is doing its bit to help.

All the same, they don’t really seem like cookery essentials, and this could help explain why they don’t seem to have been around for much more than a century. I’ve looked in vain for them in Victorian cookbooks and housekeeping manuals from both sides of the Atlantic. Mrs. Beeton’s comprehensive advice from the 1860s covers all sorts of pastry equipment but there’s no sign of a pie funnel. Pie funnels appeared around 1880 along with other not-quite-necessary late 19th century kitchen gadgets. Many similar “chimneys”, “crust supports” etc. were patented over the next couple of decades.

pie funnel nutbrown
Pie funnels like this were well-known in mid-20th century British kitchens. Nutbrown was a brand name for a range of small kitchen items. Photo HomeThingsPast.

Classic blackbird funnels

Clarice Cliff added pie blackbirds to her range of ceramics in the mid-1930s. At least one expert says this was her own original idea, and it was the first British pie bird registered design, but in Australia there was a similar pie blackbird funnel designed by Grace Seccombe a few years earlier.

Nutbrown pie funnels

From the 1930s to the 1970s and later a plain white or yellowish pie funnel was a familiar item in UK homes. The Nutbrown brand did well and its name is stamped on many vintage pie funnels. I am doubtful of claims that there was ever a Nutbrown Pottery. Pastry utensils of all kinds came from a company called Thomas (Thos.) M. Nutbrown Ltd. of Blackpool, England whose range of kitchenware also included many stainless steel things like toast racks, cookie cutters, and can-openers. By the 1980s Nutbrown kitchenware had been absorbed into the Wilkinson Sword group via a company which made scourers and cutlery.

Pie funnels in the USA

pie vent late Victorian
Pie ventilator - drawing for an 1891 US patent granted to Samuel Jenkins of Auburn, Maine.

In the early years of pie funnels they seem to have been more popular in the UK than in the US. There are few American patents in the quarter century after 1880. The first I found was a “pie-ventilator” from 1891 (see picture) and the next was an 1897 “pie-crust support” patent granted in the US to an Englishman. Meanwhile in England dozens of designs were registered, and pie-related businesses liked to distribute simple ceramic funnels with their branding on. The big surge forward with animal and character pie “birds” started in the 1940s, according to the The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink.

Names

By the way, the only name for this kind of thing in the Oxford English Dictionary is pie funnel. Their first date for it is a 1910 entry in a department store catalogue. They don’t mention pie birds.

pie funnel…a funnel-shaped device placed within a pie while it cooks to support the piecrust and to provide a vent for steam.

Bird with pastry on its chest and a beak full of steam. Photo by thecopse.
Photos

Photographers credited in captions. Links to originals and/or license here: Pie birds, pie with bird. Also see more picture info here.

Published by Helen

Published

24 thoughts on “Pie birds: how old are these collectibles?”

  1. Around 1970 I was given a Thos. M. Nutbrown Limited Icing Set. After 40+ years of use when I put in in the dishwasher with the new capsule detergent, it rubbed off black on everything so I had to discard it. The ‘popular brand’ one I bought is not easy to use or practical for applying dressings to salads etc. another use in addition to icing cakes and cookies.

    If you could tell me if these are still available, I would be most grateful. My mailing address is 5125 Amherst Court, Paris, TX 75462. Thank you. M. H.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Sorry to say there are no more Nutbrown icing sets being made. Used ones sometimes turn up on ebay. (You could check ebay.co.uk as well as ebay.com) I hope you can find something that works better than the disappointing one you have now.

      Like

      Reply

  2. I suspect that the reason ceramic pie funnels aren’t commonly seen earlier than 1880 or so is because the pie funnel was often a feature of the crust itself. I’ve seen pictures of modern recreations done historically correct with “a funnel” on top made out of a cylindrical bit of pastry on top of the pie to vent steam and contain any burbling of the pie’s contents. Times of wheat shortages have brought on the use of ceramics for making pies to replace the pastry crust and it may have been out of such times that the ceramic pie funnel came into being. The blog Food History Jottings is an excellent place to find pictures of historically correct pies. Dig around and you can find pictures of pies with a pastry funnel on top.

    Like

    Reply

  4. The design was registered in the Uk in December 1949 by Grimwades Limited of Royal Winton Pottery. The registration expired december 1964. Nutbrown made the elephant designon behalf of Grimwades. Nutbrown was established in Blackpool in 1927 and dissolved in 1988. SG

    Like

    Reply

  5. Sam, are you going to do a new edition of your invaluable book one day? Maybe more info on Australian pie funnels? Or anything else that’s come to light?

    Like

    Reply

  6. Nothing planned currently but still do some research and found an old patented funnel the other day that I hadn’t come across before and it gave the patent record office a bit of a headache tracing it. SG.

    Like

    Reply

  8. Does anyone know if i can buy a pie bird anywhere in Switzerland? Need to offer one as a Christmas present, so is urgent but cannot find an outlet in Switzerland. Purchasing abroad is cost prohibitive due to high postage costs.

    Like

    Reply

    4. I have a large collection and I don’t sell them just for my collection only. I see where you mentioned they might be on Etsy. Are they posted yet. Thanks again

      Like

      Reply

  11. Hi.
    I have a rather old and tired looking bishop pie funnel.
    I listed it for sale at a rather exorbitant price, mainly I suppose, because I like it a great deal and am not sure whether I wish to sell it or not, but also so I might find out more.
    I have had a collector get in touch and tell me it is on page 49 in a book you wrote, but says it is neither old nor rare, just well used, which was always a thought in the back of my mind, but I have looked all over the internet and found nothing similar.
    I promise I will try to get hold of your book, but would be over the moon if you could enlighten me as to this particular pie funnels history.
    Many thanks and kindest regards
    Guy

    Like

    Reply

  12. Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to assert that I get in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way Ill be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently rapidly. gkbbkbbkceaffked

    Like

    Reply

  13. Has anyone seen a Lady Pie pie funnel? A large brown lady in a long dress hair in a bun with vent holes in the skirt …looks old

    Like

    Reply

  14. “Lady Pie” was made for the upper crust by Guild Crafts (Poole) Ltd. It is referenced in my Book British Pie Funnels available on eBay. Regards Sam

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment