A nautical picture for New Year's Eve

On one of our visits last year to the Malvern Flea Fair we picked up a menu dated Wednesday 14 December 1949 from the famous Cunard-White Star liner SS Queen Mary. 

The cover features this beautifully simple design showing silhouettes of Cunard's fleet. The inside is also interesting for the vast range of food available on just one day of the voyage.

Just before Christmas we ventured to Habitat on Tottenham Court Road and finally found a frame for it which is almost a perfect fit.

Hoping that 2013 will bring many more good finds. Happy New Year!

Our Christmas tree

I have just finished decorating the tree with my ever growing collection of vintage baubles. Here are some photos...

A Christmas cactus...

... in a vintage 1950s plant pot

Stavangerflint pottery

I have recently bought a couple of small pieces of Stavangerflint and I realised that I have a mini collection of these small pots and dishes.

I bought the spoon rest for 20p after finding it at the bottom of a box of old saucepans at a car boot sale.

Here are some photos..

New piece of Rorstrand

I haven't been out and about doing much buying recently as all of our time has been occupied in trying (and so far failing) to buy a flat. I know I should also be trying to concentrate on selling rather than buying things as the thought of packing up to move house is already making me panic slightly.

Anyway, despite good intentions I have made another purchase, but as its an addition to my Rorstrand collection I thought I should make an exception.

This is also a pattern 'Fructus' that I have never seen before. Very exciting. Here it is..

I bought it from a shop called Odyssey Twentieth Century in Camden Passage. Worth a visit if you like mid-century ceramics, glass and homewares.

Vintage fabric

Here is another one of my purchases from Hay-on-Wye. One of four pieces of lovely vintage fabric.

A visit to Hay-on-Wye

Last week we had a mini break to Hay-on-Wye where we had a relaxing few days pottering about the book shops, drinking local ale and eating pies. Hay has near on 30 bookshops and we seemed to make it round most of them. Appropriately for midcentury fanatics, most of the books we acquired were old Penguins, a few from the Britain in Pictures series of the 1940s and various others, with prices ranging from 50p to about £6. Our bulging bookshelves are now near collapse, even despite a post-trip cull.

There were a few antique shops as well. Nice to get a bit of retail therapy in a pretty market town of narrow streets and old stone buildings. Here's some photos of our buys.

The red enamel casserole above is made by Dansk designs. I have only ever seen these in pricey Copenhagen antique shops so I was pleased to find one. Its a lovely tomato red colour and a good size too, not too heavy or bulky to use.

More items for the market next Saturday

As usual I will have a small selection of vintage fabrics for sale at the vintage market on Saturday. I will also have a few of these bags handmade by my friend Corinna from interesting vintage fabrics.

Here is a link to her blog: a matter of time

Next week's vintage market

Next Saturday 6 October is the North London Vintage Market in Crouch End. Here are a few of the items I will have for sale.

Figgo Norway 'Tor Viking' casserole dish

Vintage glass tumblers

Vintage 1960s mermaid coasters

Poole Pottery 'twintone' coffee pot

Poole pottery 'twintone' cups and saucers

 

Figgjo Norway 'Lotte' lidded pot

Ally Pally antiques

It was the huge Ally Pally antiques fair on Sunday 16 September. There were lots of stallholders with great mid-century items for sale and we bought quite a few nice bits and pieces. I am particularly pleased with the giant Cathrine Holm stock pot and lovely Rye pot.

 

 

 

 

Figgjo mug

 

This is my latest ebay purchase, a Figgjo mug in the 'Lotte' pattern designed in 1962 by Turi Gramstad Oliver. I'd never seen a mug in this range before so I was very pleased to snap it up.

Norwegian ceramics and enamel

This months Homes & Antiques magazine includes a big feature on Norwegian mid-century ceramics and enamelware. Here are some pictures.

Weekend finds - part 2

Here are some more pictures of my latest finds. These all came from the Kempton Park antiques market on Tuesday.

1950s fabrics

Scandinavian glass

Plastic and pyrex

Blue plant pot and casserole

Weekend finds - part 1

I can't believe that its nearly the end of August, where has the summer gone?? I have been making the most of the last bank holiday weekend in a big buying spree. It started with a carboot and an auction on Sunday, then a giant flea market on Monday and Kempton Park Sunbury antiques today. I am exhausted now and (almost) looking forward to going back to the day job tomorrow for a rest!

Here are some pictures of my finds from Sunday and Monday.

Miwinter 'Sienna' soup tureen and bowls

Alfred Meakin 'jivers' plate

Rye pottery mug, pyrex pots and retro tray

Vintage metalware including Finel 'animals' mug

Midwinter 'Cassandra' tea plates

Vintage Irish linen tea towel

More vintage glasses

Here are some pictures of yet more vintage glasses from my extensive collection, and some other interesting glassware. I will be selling all of these at the next North London Vintage Market on 1 September.

Ebay surprise

Most of the time when I sell bits and pieces on ebay, I know roughly what they will sell for. Sometimes they sell for less that I hope and I think that someone got a bargain! Very occasionally things do a lot better than expected.

That happened a couple of weeks ago when I sold this Robert Welch fruit stand. I thought it might be pretty rare but it was not in great condition and it had been languishing in the garage gathering dust for a couple of years after we bought it at a car boot sale for £2.00.

The proceeds will be going towards the wedding/moving house fund!

Stavangerflint 'Opaque' ceramics

When hunting through one of my boxes of ceramics I found a small Stavangerflint pin dish. It is from the 'Opaque' range - a series of ceramic vases, plates and other items in a creamy white matt glaze with simple floral and figurative designs in blues and greys designed by Inger Waage. I think they date from the 1950s or early 1960s. This is my favourite range Stavangerflint range and I have a few other pieces. Here are some pictures...

New Rorstrand dish

Here is a picture of my latest ebay purchase - another addition to my Rorstrand collection. This is a shape and pattern I hadn't seen before. It's called 'Canaria'.

There was no designer identified on www.svenskt-porslin.net , which is my usual reference source for Scandinavian ceramics:

But interestingly it shows the same dish as mine so maybe this pattern was only used on this shape.

Summer sails

I do love vintage drinking glasses and can't resist buying them when I find them at carboots and junk shops. Unfortunately that means I now have a lot of them and some will have to be moved on. I took a set to the vintage market and will be listing some on ebay too.

This nice set featuring yachts with colourful sails will be appearing later this week.