Hornsea bird and fish

While looking through one of the boxes of stuff I have squirreled away, I came across this lovely bird dish. It was made by Hornsea pottery in the 1960s and is a John Clappison design.

I think it was actually originally intended to be used as an ash tray though I have also seen them described as spoon rests. It was one of the first pieces of Hornsea pottery that I bought. They used to be fairly common but you don't tend to see that many of them around at fairs or sales these days.

I also have this very similar 'fish' pepper pot, designed around the same time. I bought it last year at a Norfolk car boot and am hopeful that one day I will find its matching salt pot!

stylish stainless steel

I am always on the look out for nice pieces of stainless steel when I am out and about carbooting or rooting around in junk shops. I have kept some of the smaller pieces I have found to use and display but I have gathered together some of the others this week and am listing them all on ebay. Here are a few of the highlights...

Old Hall toastrack

Danish 'Stelton' tray

'Scanware' Danish egg cups

Old Hall Robert Welch dish

Figgio pottery

Here is a close up photo of another one of my weekend purchases, a Figgio mini tureen in the 'Saga' design. I have photographed it with a couple of other items in this pattern which I have on display in our kitchen.

Holiday shopping

We have just got back from a much needed pre-bank holiday mini-break to Rye in East Sussex. Both Rye and neighbouring Hastings have loads of great vintage/antique/junk shops and I think we pretty much scoured all of them during our three days in the area.

I unpacked all the finds this morning once we were back home:

I was particularly pleased to find a scarce Hornsea pottery 'Aphrodite' vase designed by John Clappison, here's a close up photo:

My stall at the vintage market

I had a pretty good day at the North London Vintage Market last Saturday. Its always hard to predict what will sell at each market and, as usual, a few things that I thought would be snapped up quickly came back home with me!

I did sell quite a few vintage tablecloths and other bits of fabric though and I took my nice vintage trunk to display them in.

Here are a couple of pictures of my stall.

Rare Bjorn Wiinblad plaque

This is an unusual Nymolle plaque designed by Bjorn Wiinblad. It is one of a set of two that were produced in a limited run in 1976 to mark thirty years since he had begun working for Nymolle.

I have the matching one somewhere but I have never been able to find it since I moved house.

This one was bought on ebay and it's a miracle it arrived intact and it was sent wrapped in an old carrier bag, a bit of card and some brown paper!

French melamine cups

I have taken these pretty flowery 1960s cups or beakers to the last few vintage markets. Surprisingly no-one snapped them up so I am now listing them on ebay.

Although they look like pottery they are actually made of plastic or melamine. They were made by Tefal and I think were intended for picnics or camping. They would be perfect for wine!