History through china - cherished pin dishes

cherished pin dishes

In the past few weeks I have been overwhelmed with the desire to have my own vintage crockery and host a tea party. 

I have collected a variety of fine bone china cups, saucer and side plate trios (thirteen to be exact), side plates, creamer and sugar bowls, sandwich and cake plates and even a two tier cake plate stand.  All of these have been adorned with beautiful flowers in pinks, reds, yellows, blues, orange, yellow and gold gilding on the edges and some of these have been hand painted.  Most of them English from Lancastershire.  Next week I will pick up my new teapot covered in flowers and some more side plates and that will be the last of my purchases for my tea party.

But I keep thinking will it stop here. A few days ago I bought a cake plate and some small side dishes from a lady at South Plympton and she told me that she started buying fine bone china and could not stop, so eventually decided to sell it because there was so much of it. I love antiques especially English fine china.

On eBay I found some small pin dishes.  I noticed that one of them matched a vase and another small pin dish too by Lancaster & Sandland that I had bought a couple of weeks ago.  The pin dishes were all very pretty with roses, and flowers with a lot of gold gilding around the edge. They were all English brands such as Alfred Meakin, Burgess & Leigh, Duchess and Sandlands.  In particular, one stood out because it was so stunning with roses and around the edge lace like gilding by Alfred Meakin named Glow White. So I decided to try my luck, placed a bid and won.  I only paid $8 for the lot.

I was so excited to see my parcel sitting on the outside table when I arrived home from work yesterday.  I opened the plastic postage bag straight away to find a small brown box with brown ribbons tied in a pretty bow on top.  Wow!  It looked gorgeous and I felt like I was getting a birthday present and so beautifully wrapped.  There was a small card on top of the box with a painting of little fairies gathering in a forest in the moonlight. The painting was called Les Fees by Paul Gustave Dore (1832-83). I opened the card.  Inside read the word Enjoy!

So I opened the box to find the beautiful little treasures.  Straight away I decided to use some of them for butter dishes and to keep the better ones in the display cabinet.  All in such excellent condition.

It got me thinking.  The person who sent this to me must have some sort of attachment to what was inside. 

I decided to send them an email to say thank you for the small pin dishes, and that I was so thrilled to receive, and appreciated the way they were wrapped.

She wrote back:

Pleased you are pleased. Also pleased I was able to use that box.

I am the last of my generation and everything has ended up here. I just can't keep everything, particularly as I have moved back to my little miner's cottage in Bendigo from a largish house in NSW.

I am working my way through tea chests, some of which have been in storage since 1987 when I bought this house and they have been languishing in the attic. 

 These little dishes belonged to this grandmother's grandmother and mother. I think they all date from around the 1950s or early 60s. As for the egg cup, I have no idea where that came from, but it was in the box. Could have been my aunt's.

The object of selling is to make some space in my attic and shed, and avoid my children having to have the world's largest garage sale when I am pushing up daisies

Nice to hear someone other than me uses butter dishes. I have sons, and my daughters in law are only interested in things that go in the washing machine, clothes dryer or dish washer. However, I am working, with some success on my grandchildren who have chosen their dinner services, glassware, etc. And I still use them. Washing up by hand is not exactly a mega drama and I prefer the cupboard space to a dish washer.

So, thank you for your email and use the dishes in good health.

Dianne

How lovely!  I wrote back that I would cherish them.  So many questions filled my mind, I wanted to know more and could sense some sort of attachment or deepness in her words

This has reminded me of my own grandmothers belongings when she went into the nursing home, how we had no where to put everything.  So the family had to find places for them because there was a lifetime of belongings.  That's how I found the In an olde world garden pin dish that no one wanted.  It nearly ended up at the Salvation army but I thought it was very cute and would use it for tea bag.  So this little pin dish started me on this journey.  How fascinating!  Is it possible to find history in fine china?

This is the ad on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120684404153&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:AU:1123

More information about the dishes from the eBay advertisement as follows:

Six Gorgeous Little English China

Dishes and pixie egg cup

These 6 lovely jam, butter or pin dishes all have floral designs. They all have the appropriate back stamps for their makers.

All are in excellent condition, free of chips, cracks or crazing.

The decoration and gilding is fresh and bright on all items with no evidence of wear.

The first little dish is Sandland Ware and as well as a back stamp it has "570 BUTTER" impressed on the back. The design is bright tapestry pansies and tulips on a cream ground.  It is 10.5 cm square. It has a pretty gilded scallop rim.

The second dish is by Duchess. Lovely yellow roses on a white ground with a gilded scallop edge. It measures just over 12 cm in diameter.

Numbers 3 & 4 are a matching pair Burleigh Ware made by Burgess and Leigh, Hanley. They both are just over 12 cm in diameter and 2.5 cm deep. Pretty floral design on a white ground, with wide blue band and file silver band and edging.

The last 2 are made by Alfred Meakin. They feature the same deep red and gold rose design on a white ground but one has wide gold lace banding on the rim, and the other, a single gilded line. They are just over 12 cm "square" and are 2 cm deep.

The egg cup is by Newhall, Staffordshire. The design shows a sleeping pixie on a branch, surrounded by flowers. It has a fluted footed base and an moulded leaf band around the rim. It stands 6.5 cm tall and the rim is 4.75 cm in diameter. I have included the egg cup because it needs a home.

Pretty items to use and display.

Devastating natural disasters hit Australia and New Zealand



Yasi

The past couple of weeks have been horrific with massive casualties and damage to land and life in Australasia caused by natural disasters.  There have been flooding, cyclones and earthquakes.

There was massive flooding in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in January 2011.  Many people lost everything, their homes, livelihood, personal possessions and some people died.  It was devastating for everyone.  Some children died which I found quite distressing and at that point opted to ignore some media coverage.  It was very upsetting.  Many people have rallied to donate food and clothes, and other things people need.  Much support has been provided from people all over Australia.

I saw some video footage taken at Toowoomba QLD on You Tube.  Some people were watching the river near their house (through the window) as it grew bigger and bigger, and eventually covered the bridge.  It also started to move the cars that were parked in the car park right next to the river.  Eventually all of the cars were engulfed by water and taken downstream.  The brutal strength of the river was incredible to move tonnes of metal pushed under the water like a small toy.  The footage also showed a man trying to save his four wheel drive.  First of all he let down the tyres and was holding onto the car only by one hand as the other had an umbrella to stop the rain.  I could not beleive my eyes.  He was actually risking his life.  He then got in the vehicle and drove away but only just made it as another car washed through were his car was  previously.  Totally intense. Here is some video footage posted on You Tube taken at Toowoomba QLD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY

Cyclone Yasi's path

Then about two weeks ago in the early hours of the morning on the 3 February there was the tropical Yasi cyclone in Queensland that destroyed hundreds of homes and some people were killed.  It was a category five which is the strongest on scale for this type of cyclone.

It was pretty scary watching on television the people all hiding in the local shopping centre waiting for the storm.  People did not know what to expect.  Some people decided to stay in their homes and others fled for their lives.  It was massive with winds up to  300 kilometres per hour.  People were told not to leave their homes because that could be the eye of the storm as it would start again, and they could be caught up in that.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_Tropical_Cyclone_Yasi 

Thank goodness there was not massive loss of life. But it has destroyed many farms and killed a lot of wild life and farm animals.  Crops have been destroyed like banana's and other things that are grown in the region.  We are all paying top dollar $8 for banana's and the price of everything else has gone up.

Yesterday something terrible happened in Christchurch New Zealand.  There was a massive earth quake.  High sky rise buildings were reduced to piles of rubble with people trapped inside.  Especially building in the central business district were affected.  As I write New Zealanders are saving people's lives.  A lot of people are trapped in buildings, they can be heard yelling for help, tapping, and making phone calls to be saved.  It's so sad. 

I saw some media coverage on television which was very upsetting.  People were being carried out of buildings that had been totally flattened.  Blood all over them, some people had to have limbs removed so they could be saved from underneath slabs of cement.  There's been massive loss in life.  New Zealand is like our closest cousin/neighbouring country, they are like our family.  I am so sad for them at the moment.  According to news coverage, the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 as reported in this online article http://www.makli.us/new-zealand-earthquake-0072461/.  The media is currently reporting on anything, so I am not exactly sure of all of the details.  All I know is that it is very serious.  It is very distressing.

Christchurch's earth quake Feb 2011

So what is happening to us at the moment.  The weather has been very unusual.  Even in Adelaide we have had a cooler summer, with an abundance of water and cooler days which is amazing because usually we have the driest and hottest summers.  Most of the plant life dies during the summer months unless it is really hardy and sometimes animals die because of the heat.  Now all of these natural disasters have been surrounding our neighbours too. Lets pray for the safety of all those directly affected.

A tea party in April

not vintage but gorgeous

I have decided to host a tea party for my friends in April.  I must be going through one of those stages where I have to do something and there is nothing stopping me.  I get kind of, how do we say - obsessed. 

In the past few weeks I have been buying pretty vintage crockery on ebay.  It has been a lot of fun, and the things I have bought are very pretty and not overly expensive either.  It is probably going to cost me a couple of hundred dollars to buy, but once I have them it is for life.  Unless the obsession continues, and I keep buying. 

Jamie has stressed to not buy too much because our house is so small.  So I have decided that I am just going to buy enough to host a dozen friends and use some on a daily basis.  If it gets broken it does not matter because there is no point having it unless you are going to use it.



royal albert - old country roses

  So far i have bought:

• small pin plates - $5
• two tier cake stand with pink flowers - not vintage but gorgeous only $25
• two trios of Royal Albert cups in old country roses style - $16 bargain!
• six trios of Royal Vale cups with pink and yellow roses - $37
• trio of Queen Anne cup with pink roses - only cost $10
• a sandwich plate with flowers - vintage only cost $10
• sandlands ware creamer and sugar bowl - $7

I paid postage on all of these items too, so that would have been another $60 on tops of this.  So all-in-all, pretty cheap so far especially considering they are antiques.  As you can probably notice I have a running theme with pink, red, yellow and blue flowers and some gold trim along the edge.

old foley james kent sandwich plate

I still have side plates to find, probably something around the 50 to 60 year age mark and have found some on ebay so just waiting for bids to be finalised.  There are some Prince Albert side plates that I really love so wish me luck. 

I am really keen to make the most of our afternoon so have done some research about proper tea etiquette too.  If I can I will follow that, but it is a little over the top like putting your tea saucer on your lap if your not sitting at a table.  Can you imagine trying to do that with our crazy kids running around the place. I am not sure if the kids are coming yet, but will organise food for them too if they come.

So to start with I have to plan the party.  I'm finding a day that suits the girls for next month in April.  I am planning to invite 12 girls my best buddies.  Renae is going to design and print the invitations too the gem she is.  All of the crockery will be purchased by then.

royal vale - blue flowers

The menu will be small sandwiches, scones, cakes, sweets and mainly finger foods like mayonnaise chicken and pine nut sandwiches, cucumber and mint sandwiches, mini chocolate eclairs, madeira and dundee cake.   A selection of teas and champagne will be served too. 

I have found some lovely recipes on this website:  http://www.gourmet-food-revolution.com/afternoon-tea-party.html#top2  There is a way you need to set up the food on the table and cakes/scones are served before sandwiches and then sweets which I thought was really odd.

I know how to make tea and I have collected tips on how to serve tea but that should not be too hard.  I am also going to serve champagne in the old wide rim champagne glasses that were once used by Jamie's grandparents (may they rest in peace). 

Royal Vale - pretty roses

That just leaves the actual etiquette on the day.  I have asked the girls to get dressed up vintage too so that should be fun in furs, lace, gloves, dresses, hats etc although the etiquette says to dress casually but I want to dress like we are in the older days.  That will be hilarious and fun too.

I am really looking forward to the tea party in April!!

Rest in peace a good man too young to pass

Sad to hear the news of an old school friend passing. 

We were out with friends on Friday night, when I met this lovely girl.  As we started talking we found how we had both grown up in Aberfoyle Park/Flagstaff Hill and had gone to the same high school.  She was much younger than me so we would not have been there at the same time.  We were surprised about these coincidences. Then she told me her brother's name and that he had passed away 1 1/2 years ago. 

A huge wave came over me and drained my energy.  I could not beleive what I was hearing.  It was a massive shock because I had known him.  We were not very close or anything, but I knew him and had spoken to him on quite a few occasions when I was young.  He was in the year level below me at school and we had spent nights at Le Rox talking.  I remember him being a sweet and friendly guy, a really nice person and always made an effort to say hello and make that connection.  I also had kept contact on Facebook in recent years so had seen photos of him and his amazing two metre tall sand sculptures, and family.  

I couldn't beleive it.  Poor girl and family.

She told me the had a stroke and they did not even have time to say goodbye.  There was an abnormality in his artery going into his brain.  It was like a time bomb ticking away.  He was on life support but they couldn't save him so they turned it off.  Tragically and sadly he left behind a wife, little girl and an unborn child (a little boy).  His wife was only one month pregnant.  He was also a talented artist sculpture.  He was not like the rest of the people in their family (she told me) as he was a special person.  There was something different about him.  She cried...I cried. 

I felt sorry that she had to relive this experience every time she met someone like me who knew him and did not know of his passing.  This will happen to her again no doubt.  She showed me photos of his children on her camera.  I feel so sad for their family.  I hope they do not mind I wrote about him in this journal.

What a horrible tragedy.  He was only 36 years old.

RIP Simon Benn (1973 to 2009) - a good man too young to pass away. I will remember Simon.

Gone vintage

After discovering a gift from my grandmother is vintage, I have been overwhelmed with the desire to get more precious vintage fine bone china crockery.

In an olde world garden

My little treasure is a small shell shaped plate about 7 centimetres wide with a hand painted picture of a lady walking near a bridge in a garden. In an olde world garden is written on it.  How quaint.  Finding this is a vintage treasure has been quite a surprise.  I will not be putting used tea bags on it anymore.

I searched the internet to find the plate was a collectable.  Its brand Lancaster Sandlands Ware was manufactured between 1930 to 1969 in Lancaster County England.  People actually collect whole sets and love it.  My plate is not worth any great amount of money but it is lovely and old. I am guessing but it could be 50 to 60 years old.  It has given me the desire to start collecting old vintage crockery like cup and saucer sets, tea pots, cake stands, etc particularly Royal Vale, Royal Albert, Keele etc.  Eventually I will have my own collection of old goodies. 


Creamer and sugar bowl

Ebay is a great place to buy this type of stuff.  I found a gorgeous set of Lancaster Sandlands creamer and sugar bowl with a crocheted flower print. Luckily I won the auction.  Bargain $7. When I received them I was so excited and stood there admiring their prettiness and then put them in the china cabinet for safe keeping from my three year old and 11 month old boys.  They would have a smashing time with them.  I am not sure if anyone else shares my enthusiam but I am loving these pretties and I cannot wait to use and admire them.

I have also bought a pair of Royal Albert cup and saucer set $16, some small pin plates of various branding (german, english and australian) and a Queen Anne cup and saucer set.   Mum would be pleased with the Queen Anne set.  This is the beginning of a collection of vintage pretties.

Keele butter dish - fairies live here

My Mum's butter dish which is Keele brand is in the china cabinet at my place.   It is vintage so I'm planning to get a matching set of the teapot, creamer and sugar bowl.  How gorgeous. These are rare in Australia.  It is a really cute set. The butter dish is a little English house that sits on a plate.   Mum told me that when she was a little girl she thought the fairies lived it it. 

I am very excited about being materialistic but imagine sitting outside in my beautiful garden with my girlfriends having cups of tea, small  cakes and sandwiches with gorgeous shabby sheek fine bone china.  It will be lovely.

To read more about 18th to 19th century crockery see http://www.ehow.com/about_5445983_history-crockery.html

Painting workshop - Quioxte dog painting

group photo

I spent another day last week (in January 2011) doing a painting workshop with Cathy Leonard.  This time I thought I would really put myself to the challenge by painting a 80cm width by 100cm height canvas of by brother's dog Quioxte.

I had that canvas sitting behind the dining table for about a year.  It was quite scary for me to really finish off the painting I had started on it, so it was perfect for the workshop.  Also, at the time of booking the workshop with Cathy she had suggested to Tania and I that we do dogs, so I decided to embrace that idea, and make the most of my day exploring Cathy's style.  So that style was Pop Impressionist Art...



Quioxte

 

There were three other girls, Tania, Bec and Sarah all getting into it.  Tania painted some Thai dancers on a big canvas the same size as mine, Bec a portrait of her middle nephew Hudson, and Sarah her daughter.  They all did a fabulous job of their work and I am sure they would be proud to display their work anywhere. 

I enjoyed getting into the painting, although near the end I got a bit stuck so Cathy helped me with some finer details like that bloody nose.  It drove me a bit nutty, but everything else went fine.  I used my a4 photocopy of Quioxte (photo taken at Majimba about 8 years ago) to grid and draw (in charcoal) onto the canvas, then started smashing on the lights and dark shades in bright and darker colours.  It was fun.  I think I captured what I was looking to do on the day and also the painting will go to my brothers house in a few months.  Also, I love my brother's dog, she is a beautiful staffy and is getting very old.  16 years infact.  This painting is of when she was younger.

A very successful day and a big thanks to Cathy!  A link through to the workshop photos and Cat Leonard's Facebook page.

me painting

Bec's painting

Sarah's painting

Tania's painting

Christmas Eve and Day



Happy Owen

I had a lovely time with family and friends for Christmas this year.  As usual the lead up was crazy especially making sure that everything was going to be just right like presents for the children, and ingredients for the Christmas cake.

Mum and Dad decorated the Christmas tree that Diana had loaned us. Unfortunately, I did not get around to getting a real live tree this year and that I always love but we still had one not so live a little plasticy looking but it was still lovely adorned in glitzy, glowing and brightly coloured decorations. 

Charlie's new bike

Charlie was so excited about the whole Christmas thing and so much more aware.  It was great on the day to see the boys open their gifts, and then we played with the things they got.  Its nice to do family stuff like this.  I took a whole heap of photos as usual.   Charlie got a bike and also the buzz light year which he had already opened BLY a week before when snooping around in our bedroom wardrobe.  Owen got a box of blocks and a big green ball but he loved the wrapping more. Both the children were pretty happy with that, and it really did not cost us heaps and heaps of money because we do not have it. 

Santa giving gifts to the kids

Jamie and I and the kids spent the Christmas Eve with our German friends Stef, Pierre and Lara for their big event.  The Germans do it the night before Christmas.  We have been celebrating with them for a few years now.  It always lovely. There was a special visit from Santa who was a really nice bloke and gave the kids some presents.  It was great for Stef to have a party because she cannot celebrate with her own family who are still living in Germany and Pierre's family do not do anything because they are the Jovah Witness religion.

Later I saw some of the presents that people gave their children, it was absolutely ridiculous, so many presents that would have completely filled one of our tiny bedrooms.  I really believe they do not play with half of them anyway, but just throw them on the floor.  Maybe that's an age thing with my own children but honestly children these days have so much. 

Sorry, but it did kind of disgust me the whole spending money thing. There was so much pressure from shops to buy buy buy.

I made most of the girls in our family table runners this year.  Deb got a old fashioned looking one with yellows, blues, greens and lots of flowers, Mum got a Japanese one with fans in black, reds and purple, and Kate (Jamie's cousin) a pretty one with green and purple flowers.  I really love that one.  I loved making home made gifts.  Mum made the boys some hand sewn Christmas tree decorations, Owens with a Rudolf the Reindeer and Charlie with a Christmas stocking.  They were lovely.  Debbie made me a nappy and wipes bag in beautifully decorated materials, spots and squares in lots of lovely colours.  Also, Dad built Charlie and Owen a big cubby house in the backyard.  It is totally amazing, and it took him more than a week to built it.  Thanks Dad. I made a wall hanging for Kapri and for Kayne some massive textas and pencils pack to keep him going for the year and a colour in book.

BTW home made gifts are the best!

The whole family

We had lunch at Deb and Dale's house at Aldinga.  Deb was quite pleased to have the whole family there including her own Kobylas family who had not been together like this in years.  It was great!  The food was divine with lavish servings of meat, roast vegetables, salads, wines, and to finish it off Christmas cake with brandy custard.  I gorged myself silly.  We all sat around talking and eating most of the afternoon.

Later in the day Jamie and I and the kids drove to North Adelaide to be with his family.   Christmas dinner was being held in Auntie Jenny and Uncle Simon's flashy apartment near the city.  It is the first time I have seen their house, and it is awesome.  Their son Chris and daughter in law Gian could not be there this year because they had just given birth to their little girl Lucy Rose Drew on the 22nd December.  Giana was still in hospital with the baby.  Actually, Chris popped for a little while for dinner and opening presents with everyone then went back to the hospital.  He looked really happy and tired. I gave him a whole heaps of baby stuff to take home.  The food was a traditional spread with turkey, and some different types of roast meat and vegetables, and of course the famous homemade Christmas pudding.  Christmas pudding is the best and we were all merry!  We had a lovely time sitting around with Jamie's parents Chris and Diana, brother Michael, grandma Lenore, uncle, auntie and cousins Kate and her fiance.  It was lovely. 

I am so thankful for what I have in this life!