Royal Updates: Kate Lunches With Camilla; Prince William & Kate at St. Andrews; George VI tea tin

Kate had lunch with Camilla, her soon to be mother-in-law at the Berkeley Hotel. Read the Mail Online article by clicking the photo. 


Kate and Camilla didn't have tea, but the Berkeley is famous for it's different style teas. A fellow member, Martha, of the ATAA or Afternoon Tea Across America group at Yahoo reported on the Berkeley's Pret a PorTea on a blog post she did at Pret A PorTea at The Berkeley with some fab photos of the fare. Well worth a visit!


Kate & Will also visited St. Andrew's on April 25th where they met. The visit was in honor of the school's 600 anniversary celebration and Kate looked lovely in red. The visit is more fully explained on the Prince Of Wale's website:

Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton revisit their university town of St. Andrews

And lastly, I want to honor the Academy Awards tonight because 

The King's Speech  

is up for 12 awards. I loved the film and they thought they portrayed the royal family very well. 

This is a lithographed tin that was made for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth that we have at Time Was Antiques. For more info, click on the photos.

 

For more info on the King George VI coronation tin, click the photos.

Let's hope it wins!!! Have a great evening.

All I needed to know I learned from mottoware...and Dove choc wrappers

Okay, okay...that's not quite true, but it struck me this week that there are fun phrases and words of wisdom everywhere!I just added a mottoware egg cup to Time Was Antiques. I am quite partial to Torquay, Devon mottoware  and had sold a lot in the last 20 years. I just love the mottos...can't wait to see what the next I find will say.

Speak Little, Speak Well. The world of communication in a nutshell...or an eggshell if you prefer. The eggcup was made by Watcombe, Torquay and dates to between 1900-1920. The traditional cottage is a favorite design, as well as a stylized floral design called a scandy. The design is made by scratching into and through the slip and then the piece is glazed and fired. So cute! For more about the mottoware eggcup at Time Was Antiques, click on the phot.


As to the other learning source, I had just received some Valentine's Day Dove dark chocolate pieces from a tea friend and realized that their are quotes of wisdom inside each of the wrappers. I know, I know...you already knew that...but I'm a bit slow figuring it out. So here are 2 recent ones:

Here's to something 

more powerful than chocolate.

Hope

Leah

New York, NY

When you can't 

control the wind,

adjust your sails.

Brenda

Schofield,WI

Too fun, huh? So...as chocolate is good for you (YESSS!!!!) the next time yopu need a bit of cheering up, have a chocolate...and read the wrapper! Or...find a bit of mottoware and have a peruse.

For more info on the Royal Wedding including routes, wedding party, and British wedding traditions and buzz, etc check out my twitter feed: @timewasantiques or follow me on facebook. Both buttons are on the left sidebar of the blog here to take you to my pages.

Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy a cup of tea with a friend today.

Will and Kate Song by Canadian, My husband the Coldstream Guard and Charles & Diana Wedding china

The BBC website posted a link to a YouTube video of a song a Canadian group wrote...and illustrated...for Will and Kate which is quite cute!
You can click on the link here to go hear it. I especially liked the fun drawings done to accompany the song. Cute! And nice song!
BBC link to Will & Kate song


A question I get asked about my DH is...is it true he guarded the Queen at Buckingham Palace, and the answer is...yes! My husband was a member of the Coldstream Guards, a crack infantry regiment that is part of the Brigade Of Guards. The Coldstream guards are affectionately known in the brigade as the Chilly Rivers.

This is not my DH. When he emigrated to the US he left his photos behind and his sister now has them.  He was from a family of guardsmen and until recently you had to have family connections to join the guards...as well as be over 6 feet tall. His brother was a guardsman as well as an uncle who was a Company Sergeant Major. The idea of being over 6 feet as well as the bearskin hat...which is actually bearskin and weigh 7-8 pounds...was to make the guards look even taller and more intimidating than they already were.


The guards used to find the guard at Buckingham Palace outside the gates that are now closed in front of the Palace. There are 2 guard houses inside which used to be outside the gates. The year my DH was guarding the palace they were hauled inside the gates because of an incident involving an American tourist and a Coldstream Guard...not my DH but a good friend of his. 


The Guardsmen were famous for remaining impassive no matter what, and were purposely trained for this. But, as they were standing outside the gates easily accessed by tourist this was not always easy. Some people made it a quest to get a reaction from a guardsman. One particular American woman was being beyond the norm offensive trying to provoke a reaction. I won't tell you what she did...I would be too embarrassed. But...the guard reacted, was reported and the guards were permanently moved inside the gates.


To explain, if you have ever watched the changing of the guards, you will notice that the 2 guardsmen seem to miraculously be able to know what the other will do and when. BUT...there are tricks involved. Under the pavement where the guards stand is a hollow space that clearly relays sound to the other guard position. Then men are in steel toed boots. When they slam feet or rifle butts it resounds to the other guard to begin a particular maneuver...indicated by a code of heels, toes, slams. Then as they march toward each other, finger signals are given to communicate. SO...on that fateful day, the guardsman telegraphed a quick 2 paces forward and slammed into the American tourist's shins with his steel toed boots.  Sounds terrible, but the provocation was extreme, and when the case was heard it was dismissed with no penalty for the guardsman but an apology, and the guards were moved in.

We do have his patches. There is a Guards Museum in London that we visited about 10 years ago which brought tears to my husband's eyes. It was fabulous! He still wears his guards tie at times and has a Coldstream Guards key fob he treasures.

This is the guards at their inside guards box during a change of the guards.

A current image used as a recruitment poster. There was a reality show 2 years ago of 8 weeks following 6 new recruits through a year in the Guards that was fabulous.


So...you can see why we, at Time Was Antiques are strong supporters of England and English antiques, collectibles and British Royal Memorabilia!


We just found a box in the warehouse of items from the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981 that have been stored since 2002 when we closed our actual antique shop to go exclusively online. I had wondewred where they had gone! We have bone chinamugs and plates from Chinacraft, a division of Caverswall, England on e of the foremost manufactureres of royal commemoratives.

The interesting thing about these designs is they include Highgrove, the organic estate of Prince Charles. They were a numbered edition of 5,000 and each one of the mugs and plates are separately numbered. Pretty cool!!!  To see more photos and info of the mugs and plates at Time Was Antiques, just click on the photos.


Have a great day, a cup of tea with a friend and cheers!

BBC Video about the making of Royal Wedding China by Royal Crown Derby Cool!

This is a link to a great video on the BBC website about the making of Royal Wedding china by Royal Crown Derby. If you have never seen china made, this is a good way to see some of the process. That used to be one of our favorite things to do on our English buying trips...to visit the manufacturing potteries near Stoke-on-Trent. Most have closed, so this is great. I had to wait through a Priceline commercial, but it's worth it:


BBC Video Making Royal Wedding China

English eggcup Man Reading Newspaper - Your egg as head

I just had to share this little guy I just added to Time Was Antiques because he is sooo cute! This is a vintage Englsh ceramic eggcup. The man is reading a newspaper and your boiled egg is his head. How cute is that!  For more info, click on the photo.


I also wanted to let you know that I have blogged about our 37th anniversary trip this last weekend to Victoria B.C. Canada for the annual Victoria Tea Festival on my other blog the Antiques And Teacups blog. I've shared info about some of the exhibitors with some photos and will be adding more this week.
Take a peek!  Now it's time for a cuppa!
Cheers!

Prince William or Wills and Kate Engagement Mug, Victoria Tea Festival reviewed

I am so happy...the first of my Prince William and Kate mugs for the wedding and the engagement have arrived from England. They got caught in the weather caused post Christmas delivery slow down in England. But...some have arrived. These are English bone china mugs by Trent China, England and so pretty!  I have just added them to Time Was Antiques.

I have a limited number of these. If you are interested in more photos and info at Time Was Antiques, just click on the photos.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! We celebrated our Valentine's Day last weekend in Victoria, BC Canada. We took the 8am ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca Saturday morning, and despite heavy rain in the forecast it was only light rain and clouds. We arrived to find that the main streets in front of the provincial Parliament buildings...as Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia...and in front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel were closed. The 2011 Canadian National Street Hockey Championship was in high gear with 60 teams from across Canada competing for a trophy, bragging rights and a $20,000 cheque. It was quite fun to watch.

We walked to the Victoria Tea Festival and had a great few hours checking out the booths for tea suppliers, tea gadget makers, historical tea tours, tea art and various tea related booths while sipping samples of different teas and various nibbles of items for sale related to taking tea. It was a fun time. This was the 5th annual and we always enjoy going to the Victoria Tea Festival. Here are a few photos of the festival, and the rest of the photos will be part of my other blog, Antiques And Teacups blog, and the Victoria Tea Festival slide show on the sidebar of that blog. We will also discuss some of the businesses we met there.

William and Kate Royal Wedding Button, Prince William Birth mug By Aynsley

As my heart count down indicates, the Royal Wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton is just a bit over 2 months away. I order some mugs from England but they are delayed in customs. Sigh...


But, I did get some pin back buttons featuring the couple on their engagement with the Union Jack behind that I quite like. You van see the ring which I really like which belonged to Williams's mother, Princess Diana. Cool!
To see more info, click on the photo to go the Will and Kate button at Time Was Antiques.


To travel back a few years, I also just added a really neat Aynsley, England double handles mug or loving cup made to commemorate Prince William's birth in 1982. It is just beautiful and the usual Aynsley outstanding quality. That's a drawing of Windsor Castle on the front and the dedication on the back.

To find out more about the Aynsley Birth Of Prince William mug at Time Was Antiques, click on the photo.


Tomorrow we head to Victoria, B. C. Canada for the Victoria Tea Festival which is always fun. We get to check out the refurbished Coho ferry, so that will be fun. Intend going to our favorite Indian food restaurant and seeing an IMAX also at the Royal B.C. Museum. A great day...it always is. Think we might have some tea.....

rare Shelley Polka Dot Dainty Coffee Pot at Time Was Antiques

First of all, I LOVE Shelley China. Secondly I LOVE blue...so what's not to love with this Shelley blue Polka Dot Dainty coffee pot I just added to Time Was Antiques.  I love to find Shelley china, and this is a rare one! So cool! 

For more info & photos of the Shelley Polka Dot coffee pot click on the photo.


We are going to the Victoria BC Tea Festival this weekend on the Blackball Coho ferry from Port Angeles, 12 miles away. We love Victoria, BC and this is a great excuse to go...see the Victoria Tea Festival and celebrate our 37th anniversary which is next week on the 16th. Sort of early Valentine's Day & anniversary all in one. We are looking forward to it!

This is a real photo antique Romance postcard. The wording is:

Girl In Hammock Reads A Book, 

Man Comes By And Steals A Look

Cute! To see more about the postcard, click on the photo.

Have a great day, a cup of tea with a friend and think of all the blessings we have!

Charles and Diana Royal Wedding and Birth Of Prince William mugs, Westminster Abbey

I just added several items of British Royal memorabilia to Time Was Antiques, one of the specialties of this website. I thought I would share a couple of mugs including one from the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981 and another from the birth of Prince William in 1982. These are an ironstone in blue transferware wedding mug from Adams, England and a ceramic mug with gold profiles and lettering by Kilncraft, England celebrating the birth of Prince William. These were both very popular at the time of the wedding or the birth. For more info, click on the photo.

The interest in the wedding of Charles & Diana has strengthened again with the announcement of the upcoming wedding of their son, Prince William to Kate Middleton in April. The wedding will be in Westminster Cathedral. Charles and Diana married at St. Paul's, but Prince William's grandparents, the then Princess Elizabeth married Philip there in 1947.  Princess Elizabeth was then crowned Queen Elizabeth II there in 1953.

Westminster Abbey was actually founded in the year 960...amazing! Many of the most important people in history are buried there. I remember a line from The King's Speech (you MUST see it if you haven't...Brilliant aside for the language in parts) Lionel Logue says as he walks up the nave something like "I can't get over the thought of walking on Shakespeare, Darwin and Turner!" A visit to the Abbey is one of the highlights of any one's visit to London. Not to mention the choir...but I'm a musician, so....


These are links to pages in the Westminster Abbey so you can read some of it's illustrious history, what has happened there and what is coming up. Today most of the Royal Family attended a celebration of the life of famous soprano Dame Joan Sutherland.


Westminster Abbey home page

Westminster Abbey History


Famous People And The Abbey


If you are going to follow the upcoming wedding, you'll be seeing a lot of Westminster Abbey!


I hope you had a great day and are looking forward to a great day tomorrow. We will be sunny here in Sequim so we will be out walking and enjoying the sunshine!

Downton Abbey England Trip Sweepstakes, knife rest with hearts

Win a trip to visit the real Downton Abbey...Highclere Castle, Agatha Christie's home, Bath...Jane Austen's favorite city and Oxford where Morse drop his Jag coutesy of PBS, British Airways, The British Heritage Foundation and MacDonald Hotels. Entry must be made before April 26th for travel in September...one of the best times to visit, in my opinion.

Here is the link:

Downton Abbey PBS Sweepstakes

On a Valentine's heart theme...which I am enjoying this week...here is a Victorian era fancy knife rest at Time Was Antiques with pierced hearts in the sides. How cute is that! The knife rest is EPNS, or electro plated (silver plated) nickel silver and has a great "barley twist" central bar. The name barley twist is used on furniture and decorative items with twisted bar features because they are like the barley sugar confectionary sticks that were popular in the 18th century. I have a THING for barley twist. LOVE it!

For more info on the hearts & barley twist knife rest at Time Was Antiques, click on the photo.

Have a great day today...hopefully with friends and tea!

Apostles on spoons? Devotion at the tea table? Wedgwood pink jasperware box

Well, I am devoted to a cup of tea and one of the fun things I found growing up with a part English family and then all over England is the prevalence of spoons and sugar tongs with figural ends shaped like robed apostles.  I have seen them from all the famous silver makers in in everything from solid gold to aluminum...EPNS and nickel silver, silver plated and hallmarked sterling silver.

This is a sterling silver pair of sugar tongs made in Chester, England in 1921.  Apostle spoons have been popular for centuries. They evolved with a religious or devotional use, the honoring of a saint, and often coming in sets of 12 with a Christ spoon to commemorate the Last Supper. The British Museum has a spoon dating to 1536. 


Apostle spoons were a popular baptismal gift or for weddings and confirmations but have become just a traditionally accepted classic design for spoons and sugar tongs. I was told once in England that you can even tell which of the apostles is represented by the way they are depicted and with what included elements, but I've never researched it. I just think they are a great English tea time tradition. For more about the sugar tongs above at Time Was Antiques, click on the photo.

Since it is Valentine's Day soon, here is a Wedgwood pink and white jasperware heart shaped box with the classical design of The Procession.  Wedgwood jasperware, which is a type of stoneware, is difficult and painstaking to make. We loved watching it being made in England at the Wedgwood pottery in Stoke. The museum in Barlaston, England is still doing some working exhibits of it's manufacture and is well worth the trip if you are by Staffordshire. The museum is absolutely incredible!!


To see more photos and info about the Wedgwood jasperware heart box at Time Was Antiques, click on the photo.


Wedgwood Museum website

Remember our current special at Time Was Antiques

LOVE Valentine 10% Discount - enter LOVE coupon code 025 for 10% off orders over $50.00. Through February, may be reused. A sweet day for love! Use coupon code 025 when ordering for 10% off when your order is over $50.00.

Red and Hearts for Valentine's Day, Dunoon, ruby hatpin and red tea tin

It is really amazing to realize that it's already February and Valentine's Day is fast approaching with cinnamon breath and rose tinted glasses!


I wanted to share a few things that bespeak the holiday fast approaching and are a celebration of color and sentiment.

This is a lovely 10kt gold hatpin or stick pin that we have at Time Was Antiques with a faceted faux ruby dating to the 1950-1960s with a pretty heart shape. I just love it! What a statement of love and color on a lapel or hat.  Click the photo for more info.


Today we had a doctor's appointment in Seattle and took the ferry in from Bainbridge Island where we park our car. The shops are starting to be flooded with Valentine treats and goodies. It's a lovely time of year!

Another type of heart jewelry is this expansion bracelet we recently got at an estate auction that is probably already headed to a new home. These bracelets were popular from the late Victorian era to the 1940s.  Here is another example from the 1920s. Click the photo for more info:

Hearts are such a universal symbol of love!

This is a Dunoon mug from 2005-2006 with a design called Valentino that we recently added to Time Was Antiques.  The mug is by Italian designer Umberto Banchelli and has a lot of gold metallic accents that you can't really see in the photo. That speaks Be My Valentine in several languages! Click the photo for more info.


And if you love antique postcards....

This is a 1907 real photo romance postcard. Ahhh.....


To hear about our day in Seattle and Bainbridge Island, visit my other blog, Antiques And Teacups blog for photos and our Teacup Thursday choice.


Tomorrow I'm going to talk about the history of Apostle spoons. Who knew???
Have a great evening and hopefully you are not freezing on the east coast or mid west! I'm feeling a little guilty because we are just rusting here in Washington state!