THE OLD JELLY CUPBOARD

I spotted the old jelly cupboard when I walked into my son’s garage during a visit to their New Jersey home last week. Covered with dust and detritus, it stood in a corner behind two ladders next to the cat’s litter box. Its maple sheen has faded to a dull patina and its once smooth finish is now a maze of scratches and stains.

I bought that two-drawer two-door jelly cupboard at an antique show for about $275 in the early 1970s. It provided perfect storage for my Wedgewood china, Waterford goblets and a humongous three-foot-long Sterling silver asparagus tray, complete with tongs and cruet, a wedding gift that had defied comprehension or practicality. (If only I’d known about Yankee Swaps back then…)

The jelly cupboard stood on a prominent wall in my dining room in Ridgewood and I delighted in its ample storage. Over the years, through dinner parties and holiday gatherings, it was a marvel of accommodation for and accessibility to platters, plates and party stuff. 

Fifteen years later, after my divorce, the jelly cupboard and I moved to an ocean-front condo in Kennebunkport. There it nearly covered a wall of the pocket-sized eating area. And yet, marvel of marvels, it still comfortably housed all my dishes and the diminishing remains of my goblet collection, plus a black fold-up umbrella and other stuff that had nothing to do with eating. And, when I invited the ladies in for Girls Night, it became the wine bar.  Perfecto!

By the late 1990s, I was happily remarried to Mr. Wonderful. Realizing the condo was too cramped for our merged family, we built a home at Kennebunk Beach, two miles from Kport. The jelly cupboard was one of the first items placed on Two Men and a Truck’s van. I stationed it in my new dining room and filled it with lobster-shaped platters and nautical blue cocktail napkins.

Shortly after that, son Chris married Jennifer and they needed furniture. Extolling the “amazing storage” and “almost antique look,” I gave the jelly cupboard to the newlyweds for their apartment abutting Park Avenue in New York City. That apartment was tight, every inch mattered, and the jelly cupboard nearly filled their “intimate” dining room. But on visits, I enjoyed spotting party invitations decorated with red firetrucks for Miles’ third birthday on top. The cupboard was enjoying the good life on the Upper East Side!

Shortly before Covid hit, Chris and Jen moved from NYC to the New Jersey suburbs. The jelly cupboard went with them to a house in Ridgewood which was, ironically, two blocks from our old home where the cupboard had originally reigned supreme. For several years, it held Jen’s china. Then she redecorated and opted for a dining room wall featuring built-in shelving and drawers, topped with a marble slab. That basically left the old jelly cupboard in the lurch.

And that’s when it went bye-bye to the garage where it sits today amidst grunge and goop. (I’m not sure the cupboard holds anything important because, with all the ladders and junk in front of it, a mother-in-law couldn’t negotiate her way to inspect it!)

Sic transit gloria.

But then again, I figure some day the jelly cupboard could end up in my grandsons’ dorm rooms or first apartments. And I hope so. Because even though it’s old, it’s not over the hill. Look at Martha Stewart. That 81-year-old lady is featured in a bathing suit on the cover of the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED swimsuit issue. Looking mahvelous, I may add!

If Martha can do it, so can the jelly cupboard. Old ….. schmold!