DEPARTMENT 56 Collection adds Spam museum

Only 5,000 were ordered, making the miniature a limited edition.
By JILL BURCUM
SCRIPPS HOWARD
First there was the Spam Museum in Austin, Minn. Then there was the Web site -- www.spamgift.com -- for all things Spam.
Now, just in time for the holidays, the oft-scorned processed meat is poised to step further into our hearts and arteries with a ceramic miniature of the Spam Museum from Department 56, best known for its light-up Christmas villages, Snowbabies figurines and other seasonal doodads.
Yes, the Spam collectible is intended to fit right in with the glittery, snow-draped "Woodlake Chapel," "McGuire's Irish Pub" and other nostalgic small-town miniatures that make up Department 56's well-known Snow Village series.
Who knew that pork shoulder in a can could add so much to holiday merriment and decor?
"It really is a meeting of the minds of two great Minnesota companies," said Julie Craven of Hormel Foods Corp., which opened its Spam Museum in September 2001. "The folks who are big Spam collectors and the folks who are big Department 56 collectors are really going to be looking for something like this."
Said Karen Feil, executive director of the Collectors' Information Bureau in Chicago: "This must be an example of Scandinavian humor."
Feil's nonprofit organization tracks the value of collectibles.
Collectors' buzz
Even though the Spam miniature, which is lit from within, just went on sale for $63.25, buzz over it is building in the vast network of Department 56 collectors. Local clubs exist across the United States, and there's a national organization. There are also Internet chat rooms.
"Anything that is going in their Snow Village series is going to be crazy. People just wait and wait to see what the new thing is, and then they buy it and add it to their collection," said Mitz Fishman, a Department 56 miniatures collector.
"I'd heard that it was coming," said Tom Iacoviello, a member of a Department 56 collectors club.
Iacoviello has seen the Spam miniature online. Although it's relatively plain, he said, he'll buy one.
"When you're a collector," he explained, "you want them all."
Because this is Hormel's first major Spam collectible, Craven said only 5,000 were ordered, making the miniature a limited edition in collectors' parlance -- potentially more valuable. It's also sold only by the Spam Museum and the Spam Web site, adding to its aura of exclusivity.
Craven said she's not sure who came up with the idea for the Spam miniature. She said the museum shop staff is always looking for new items, and when Susan Engel, CEO of Department 56, visited some time back, things just clicked.
The company had already launched Snow Village miniatures featuring doughnuts and soup. Adding the Spam miniature was an easy and natural next step in the food chain. The pieces help collectors, especially those in the Midwest, personalize and have some fun with their villages, said Bill Shadid, director of product marketing for Department 56's village lines.