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.