OT-I HATE APPLIANCES

I have to ask, does it have blue periwinkles ???

LOL - I do believe that's the one. One of her services faded, and my Aunt's which has the free flowing flowers all over - I'll have to think of the pattern name - with a pink edge - also faded. But, the set that was my DM's she bought in Nassau maybe 40 years ago.

ellice

When I got married the first time, back in 1961, my mother started us off with Royal Doulton Rose Elegans. As the years went by, it was added to, especially when we were staitioned in Scotland, and later, Spain. I had 108 pieces IIRC by the time Paul had died, and I had met up with JIm. When we went fulltiming in the Motorhome in 1993, I took the china to a consignment shop in Baltimore. Ebentually I got $333 for the lot! Oh well, what would I have used them for in an RV?? Someone had 12 place settings, and then some!

Gillian

And NO Periwinkles!!!

The only time I use my very best bone china etc. is at holiday time or when we have a posh dinner party. Both of those times are very busy, so I figure it is the housewife or the dishes. The dishes lose, and get stacked (carefully) in the dishwasher. I do wash the family heirloom antique cut glass wineglasses by hand, but the sterling silver cutlery, which is washed by hand every day when there are only the two of us, goes into the dishwasher after parties.

Like I say, which is more precious, me or them?? It took me a while to figure this out, but now I have done so. I can buy new dishes, but not a new me.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Olwyn Mary ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

It depends. While I do not wish to wash the dishes I would feel it was a crime to deliberately put that Wedgewood in the dishwasher. It isn't a question of how carefully it is placed in the dishwasher, but rather that the hand painted flowers would lose their colours and eventually wash off.

My daughter could buy new dishes but she could never buy anything as beautiful because it is just not available anymore. It's like the Royal Doulton figurines, those they make today bear little resemblance to the figurines of the early part of the century.

ROTFLMBO! Ooooooh, Mirjam, thanks for starting my day with a laugh!

Joan (dust orgies! teeheeheehee)

LOL - Great descriptions of the lives of "inanimate" objects. There is always something - our coffee grinder casts its children everywhere. No matter how it's been cleaned up around - turn around and they've seemed to fall from the sky - little coffee grinds running across the counter.

Ellice

On 12/26/06 6:51 PM, "Gill Murray" wrote:

LOL - I have, I believe at last count, 5 full sets of china/dishes, and 1 specialty, and the Corelle (DH's). And no china cabinet.... But we do have a lot of cabinets in the large kitchen and butler pantry, and bought the antique hunt sideboard - which can hold some of the china (in storage dust things) and serving pieces, and the silver. I can't believe that's all you got for your dishes, but, well.

Having had all our parents gone for a while, we've got a bunch of stuff. Plus, my xDH has my DM's china service, and my grandmothers' crystal (they loved him, he loved them, what the heck - my mom hated her china).

But, I have the antique Japanese set, a set of Danish china with gorgeous shaped cups - little tea roses painted in the borders - it sounds a bit fey for me, but is really lovely, my paternal grandmother's Noritake (which I use kind of everyday-ish ), my maternal grandmothers's sevice for 13 (yup,

The big question that we laugh about in my family - my DA (the retired doc) has always put her funds, etc in antiquees. A few years ago she finally had Christies auction off some. She had a huge collection of reticulated Royal Worcester - the china looks like openwork lace. She also has handpainted Royal Imari - with the insides of the bowls painted, and the dishes are hand-fluted - like waves. It's busy, but gorgeous. Took IIRC over 2 years for Wedgewood to make the dishes. Her son - is a strange kind of guy - who runs a fishing charter boat, captains some rich guy's yacht, and is bascially kind of a character. We figure - whatever the DA doesn't specify going to me (she's mad at my DB because she & the SIL have a mutual disrespect and dislike society, and it's caused issues) - that my cousin will have it for sale faster than you can whistle it. Of course, whenever my DA wanted something while we were settling estates - she would say "oh, Bart really wants that.... Nana promised it to him" . Of course we'd be looking at some Rosevill pottery vase, or some antique china thing, etc - and we couldn't stop laughing. Finally we'd just say "this is what was left to our mom - you got what your mom left you - and our parents left their things to their children. If YOU want something - quit telling us about "bartsie" .... We just were having a hard time picturing the antique vases with him out on a fishing tourney. He's kind of a rough living guy.

Anyhow - who knows what will show up by the time all the dishes come out of storage.

ellice

Some truth in that. Although, my cousin's Wedgewood - which IIRC is probably about 30-35 years old - is stunning. The pattern, I believe, is Florentine Gold - which you cannot buy in the states. And pictures don't do it justice.

My DA has some 18th century Doulton figurines - and they're still amazing. I'm sure those will look really nice on the fishing boat, as well ;^)

ellice

ellice ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

The one I gave to her has small flowers painted on it, it's a full service for 16, has soup dishes that stand on four little legs, with their own special plates to go under them, dessert bowls, dessert plates, large and small tureens, small and large serving platters, flat plates in all sorts of sizes, all kinds of veggie dishes ~ it's basically from another era when my mother had servants, entertained a great deal and held dinner parties of the old fashioned sort. It's a ten tea chest deal and I would not have room for it here lol

I still have friends to dinner but like my Royal Worcester which can go from freezer to oven, to dishwasher etc. It's porcelain so very durable. I have Hanbury which is discontinued but I occasionally find odd pieces on ebay. Similar to Blue Spray but a little different. I think I chose it because the pattern is very crewel-like.

I personally don't care for the Doulton ladies but my grandmother did and her children all found them great gifts so she had masses. The only one I liked was called Sweet and Twenty and she was sitting on a sofa with her Dalmatian dog beside her. I liked the dog really, better than the silly woman in the flouncy dress lol And no, I definitely don't seem them aboard ship lol

I have the "Top of the Hill" from 1938, which is mounted on a presentation wooden plinth. I have never been able to find it in exactly the same colors. Each year the Borough Surveyor's wife was presented with one. It was Mother's bad luck that dad finally made that job in Wallington (after being deputy) just a year before the war. No more goodies after that!

I have a very large collection of the Royal Doulton miniature character jugs....around 85-90 I think. They were discontinued in the early 90s, so are getting hard to find; the unusual ones at any rate. I have to be ready to pop a grand if I want to pick up any of the missing ones. They ar all photographed, and on a CD in the RV, as are other collectibles...........just in case a hurricane smashes everything.

Gillian

Are you talking about what I think were called Toby Jugs? If so, I have a couple of them sitting in my breakfront.

Lucille

No, these are a little different. They are just of the head and neck of the character, whereas the Toby jugs have the full body ( pretty much anyway). Mine measure aabout 2 1/2 inches high. The large size are 7 inches, the small about 4", the Minis about 2 1/2" and the Tinys about 1

Gill

I guess mine are the character jugs that you describe. The two that I have are just the head, and one called The Sleuth is about 2-1/2" and I think is supposed to be Sherlock Holmes and the other, The Falconer is a mini 1-1/2". My husband loved them and wanted to buy more, but we just never got around to it.

I don't think these two are that valuable, but maybe I should look them up. L

The Sleuth is definitely a mini; I have him in my collection. He was listed in the catalog at $80 and I paid $46. The Falconer is a great little guy; I have him as a Mini,and his listed price is$70 but he almost sounds like a Tiny. I can't get to my Charlton Character Jug "Bible", it is on the bookshelf behind the Xmas tree. I will look this weekend when we take the decorations down. Look at the bottom of the Falconer, and there should be a four digit number, starting with a D. This would tell you for sure if he is a mini or tiny. My mini is D6547

With the near-depression state of the USA in the past 4 or 5 years. I notice that the asking price is a lot less than that which is listed.

Gill

The Sleuth is D6535 and is dated 1972. The Falconer is D6547 and is dated

I haven't looked closely at these little guys for a long time. As a matter of fact, except for a very occasional dusting I just never really thought about them, and since they sit behind a glass door, I do mean very occasional.

Lucille

Correction to my rotten typing. The Sleuth is D6635.

Going direct to you!!

Gill

Lucille wrote:

Sounds like the service I have from my grandmother. Different patterns of course, but same enormous service. My grandfather was essentially in show business and they entertained a lot. A lot. So, this was one of the services, and I have her sterling - it's an old Wallace Lily of the Valley pattern - monogrammed, and amazingly with a K, which is what my married name is now. The antique tea & coffee service my aunt "stole" . But, I have the sterling serving platters from both grandmothers - what a ridiculous thing to have - 3 large well & tree platters (footed of course). They take up a lot of room. And then in some fit (I think angry with my Aunt for snitching her tea service) my grandmother brought me 2 silver tureens (the old kind - which are actually like big domed serving platters). My Aunt had been lusting for them, and evidently my grandmother decided that I should have them - so they were a housewarming gift in my first house. I love them - and am amused when occasionally my aunt wonders to me about what happened to "nana's tureens" . Honestly, I did use all the stuff - when it's finally out of storage again I will.

I love the Royal Worcester porcelain freezer to oven ware. I have a couple of lovely covered casseroles in that. It's really nice - and so much prettier to put out than just my corningware when doing a "fancy" buffet,etc. I also have a bunch of Portmeirion Botanic Garden serving/cooking pieces. I don't know why - but I really love it. So have some souffle dishes, casserols, bowls, and quiche/tart pans. One of my old friends (British ex-pats that are about 10 years older than I) gave me her pieces as she was never going to use them again - I felt terrible - but love the pieces. Dang - I do have a lot of dish stuff.

LOL - on that we agree. I don't think I have any of the Doulton figurines. I do have some victorian bronze miniatures - very interesting. And some older Lladros - without the glossy finish (I like the matte texture). I have one called "the goose girl" - there she is sitting- with the geese all around - and another that is a girl herding a lovely cow - just love those.

The frilly stuff - I think is elsewhere. My DB & I have always thought that my DA has lots of very frou-frou things as kind of an overcompensation to prove her femininity - when she became a surgeon there were very few women in the field, and she was the first female med student at her med school (she actually worked as a model part time to help with the finances, and when I was a little girl -I remember her being on either What's My Line or I've Got A Secret - don't remember which it was). Anyhow - she has very frilly antique pieces - though some are truly beautiful, if not my taste. But, to meet her son, well, the picture of these things with him and the fish - maybe next to a chum cooler - is quite a hoot.

ellice