One of my very favorite things on the planet is my Lenox Spice Village and I want to share it with you. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re tiny houses that you put spices in. And I’m totally obsessed! So today I’m going to give you the low down on everything you need to know about Lenox Spice Villages.
All About Lenox Spice Villages
To start off, I heard about the Lenox spice villages through one of my readers. Back in November 2019, she messaged me about them and said she thought I’d really love them. And boy was she right!
I ended up going on Etsy to check them out and I instantly fell in love. Aka, I ordered a bunch of them right on the spot.
And honestly, I’m not sure I remember being so excited about receiving a package!
I mean, what’s not to love? They’re cute tiny houses that also have a practical use- storing your spices! Although I currently just use mine for decoration, you could definitely put your spices in them.
I would say they’re the perfect mix of cuteness, nostalgia and, let’s face it, pure joy. They absolutely check all the boxes of the looks I’m into right now- Cottage-core, Grand Millennial, and Coastal Grandmother.
So today I want to share with you my love for these little spice houses and sources for where you can get your own!
What is the Lenox Spice Village?
So Lenox spice villages are porcelain houses that are about 3″ tall. Also, the roof of the house comes off so you can store spices in them. They have a rubber gasket that holds the lid/roof on and makes it more or less airtight.
How many houses are in the Lenox Spice Village? There are 24 spice houses in the collection, each with a name of a spice hand painted on it. Each house is unique- they are all made of porcelain and then painted a pastel color and intricately decorated. There’s even 24k gold details on these. They’re made by Lenox- the most prestigious porcelain maker in America.
When did the Lenox Spice Village come out? These were originally made by Lenox starting in 1989. The spice houses were the first of the collection. Because they were so successful, the line was expanded to include other kitchen accessories. Each month a new piece was available for sale. The village line was later discontinued in 1993 when they were no longer as popular.
Below is a list of the 24 spices in the village. I’ve included a picture too so you can see that each individual house is a different style and color. Don’t they have the cutest dollhouse aesthetic?! I’ve also added a link for each spice house, so if you click on it, you’ll see what’s currently available on eBay for each house.
original Lenox Spice Village ad
Here’s a look at the original 1989 ad for the Lenox Spice Village! You can see that it was available as a subscription. If you purchased all 24 of the miniature houses, you got the spice rack for free.
Here’s an original 1989 ad promoting them. So fun!
Where to Buy Them
Since the Lenox Spice Village is no longer made, these need to be purchased secondhand. There are a handful of great options where you can find them online:
While I haven’t bought the spice villages at all of these places, the site I’d most recommend searching is eBay. Since they have the lowest prices, they’re the ones I’ve had the most success with.
But I also want to share with you a few tips for how to get the lowest prices on eBay!
Tips for Buying Lenox Village Spice Houses on eBay
Tip #1- Go For eBay Over Etsy
Personally, I started off buying them one by one on Etsy. Since Etsy is more curated and sellers do their best to have beautiful photos, their prices are typically higher than eBay’s.
So, go with eBay if you want a better deal!
Tip #2- Buy the Whole Set At Once
Second, I would highly recommend buying the entire set all at once. Typically, you can find them on eBay from $400-$100 for the set. Note, when I first started looking at these in 2019 you could get the whole set for $100! But still, buying the whole set is a lot cheaper than buying it house by house.
Tip #3- Sort Price Lowest to Highest
Another little tip if you’re buying the spice village houses is to sort prices from low to high. That way you can find the cheapest prices first. I use the search term “Lenox spice village” and that works really great.
Tip #4- Inquire About Shipping
Lastly, while you’re searching look to see if there are multiple houses you want from the same seller. If you do, message them and see how much it would be to combine shipping for all of them together. This is exactly what I say-
“Hi! I’d like to buy 3 of your Lenox village spice containers. Is there a way to buy all three and combine shipping?”
I’ve always has the seller say yes and then send me an invoice through eBay with all of the spice houses I wanted and reduced shipping since they can ship them together.
**update**- I first wrote this blog post a few years ago. Since then, the prices have gone up on these as the popularity has risen. Now, you can get each house for around $15 at the best price and $200 for the full set.
Tips for Displaying Lenox Spice Villages
Next, I want to share some ideas for how to display your little spice village! Since they’re very much made to be shown to the world, they deserve to be put on display.
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How cute are these white shelves for the spice village? I love the scalloped edges. Also, they’re accessible in the kitchen if you do want to actually store spices in them.
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Another good option! Side note, the entire spice village originally came in the house display in this image. You can actually still buy it with the entire set in some cases like this one.
But the original was just in plain wood and they painted theirs blue. Totally love it!
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If you’re not going to use the spice villages to store your spices, you can also put them wherever you enjoy seeing them! Since they’re so small, they can go pretty much anywhere and look cute.
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Another option is to just have them on your counter like this.
After recently doing my kitchen renovation, I hung three of these narrow shelves that perfectly fit 8 of the spice houses. Again, they’re so cute that they look good anywhere.😍
VINTAGE LENOX CHINA VILLAGE COLLECTION
Additionally, Lenox also made other items in the spice village collection like rice and coffee canisters, a teapot, plates and more after making the spice rack and spice houses. I’ll share below more about the additional pieces. You can watch this video to see the entire dreamy collection! Confession- I’ve watched this so many times! It makes me happy- lol.
1 full set + display / 2 dinner plates / 3 sugar bowl / 4 coffee mug / 5 flour canister / 6 candlestick / 7 napkin holder / 8 ice cream cup / 9 pasta canister / 10 cookie jar / 11 salt & pepper / 12 tea canister / 13 rice canister / 14 candy jar / 15 nut canister / 16 serving dish / 17 coffee / 18 teapot
You can really see the 80s/90s influence in the extended collection and I’m into it! The full collection is huge, but I wanted to show you the different pieces in case you become obsessed with collecting more beyond the spice houses like I did-
Sets on Stands-
These all come on a porcelain stand, gold handle, and two houses with holes in the top.
Canisters-
The canisters are styled like the spice houses, but much bigger. They also have a rubber stopper to keep the food fresh.
Nut Shoppe. Side note do you see the original certificate of originality?! That’s something that came when ordered through Lenox. You can also see that the Candy and Nut canisters originally came together. They are commonly sold together for that reason.
other items
I know this post is getting so long, but evidently Lenox really got into making these! I’m guessing because the original spice houses were good sellers. Here’s more of the collection-
Cafe Mugs (available eight colors- pink, orange, yellow, green, mint, blue, light purple, and purple)
Napkin Holder (it says “Dry Goods” on the front)
Planters– these came in yellow, purple, pink and blue. They were sold in sets of two so sometimes you see them sold that way on eBay too.
Trivet (there where four designs- Green Grocer, Confectionary, Country Store- my favorite, and Cafe)
dishware
Lenox also made Village dishware with cute little houses on it. To be honest, it’s not my favorite- I think it looks too 80’s. But I did want to mention that it’s available if you like it. It is sweet. Maybe one day I’ll change my tune and collect some 😉
original print catalog
The other day a reader sent me a listing on Facebook Marketplace of the most beautiful collection of the Lenox Village I’ve ever seen. Evidently, a sweet couple bought everything in the set and saved it in new, mint condition as an investment. They are now having their son in law sell it. I bought a few things (the recipe box, clock, sweets canister, and mugs) from them.
P.s. here’s the link to the listing if you want to get items. He charged me the average price you’d get on eBay plus he shipped them for me. Some of his items you can’t get on eBay right now, plus they are in such good shape! My experience was good. I wanted to wait until I received everything before recommending him.
As part of the listing, he had a picture of all the original catalog. I wanted to cry! What a beautiful collection! I’ve been looking everywhere for these pictures. Like the one on front shows the cafe mugs and ornaments came out together at Christmas time. How fun! So I asked him to take pictures of it and I’d pay him extra.
He sent me some ok photos (why aren’t they straight?! Why aren’t there more!?), but I thought you’d enjoy them. And yes, beggars can’t be choosers, I just wanted to preserve them in digital form because it’s not often to find this pristine of a collection!
Isn’t that fun to see how Lenox originally styled things?! And what came together. I also love that some of the catalog was written on with when it was bought and for how much. I just love old things!
conclusion
Do you have any of the Lenox spice village? If not, have I convinced you to get started on collecting? 😂Tell me in the comments!
if you loved it, pin it!
I have the entire set of 24, but now thinking I need the tea set! I love tea! 😍
Yes, the tea set is soo fabulous! Please get it 😂😍