Pink Saturday Royal Wedding Bell, Colored Stones Rather than Diamonds in England

I am joining Pink Saturday with How Sweet the Sound today. The pink I found was from the design of a Prince Charles and Diana Royal Wedding bell from 1981. For more info on the bell or other Royal commemoratives at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos.

I think I thought of the wedding bell, which is by SylvaCeramics, England because of my last post about the green stone Tourmaline and Peridot ring we supplied to a couple (he's an artist in New York City) as an engagement ring. I received a lot of emails from the post asking about my comment that they are popular in the UK, and also by a number of ladies whose 20 and 30 somthing kids have also had colored stones for engagement rings recently. 

When Charles and Diana were engaged in 1980, he gave her a large blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds.

And of course, in November of 2010 their son Prince William presented the same ring to his future bride Catherine Middleton.

When Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson in 1986, she was given a large ruby surrounded with diamonds.

And Edward VIII gave his future wife Wallis Simpson a 20 carat emerald.

And a royal cousin Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece married Marie-Chantal in 1995, she had a large oval sapphire with heart shaped diamonds.

So it is fun to see how styles change. By the time William and Catherine's child marries, what will the trend be?

The Royal Mews, the Royal Wedding video and Charles & Diana's Coach for William and Kate

Great video from the Royal Channel on YouTube from one of my favorite places in London to visit...The Royal Mews where Queen Elizabeth II keeps her horses and carriages just behind Buckingham Palace on Buckingham Palace Road. We love to stay in this area of London within walking distance of the front gates of Buck House, the Mews, Pall Mall, the Queen's Guard's Museum in St. Jame's Park and other great spots.

Photos of the Gold State coach from a visit when we were last in London which is over-the-top drop dead gorgeous:

The horses pulling the carriage are the Queen's Windsor Greys which aren't actually a special breed but are bred for color for the Queen's carriages. The mews is a fascinating place. You tour the enclosed courtyard, visit the stabling to see the horses if they are in town...we have only missed them when our visit was in August...view the tack room which is quite fun since we deal in a lot of horse brasses,

and then you get to tour all the coaches housed there from the Gold State Coach seen above to the Australian coach, the Glass Coach, the Rolls, and more. 

This is the 1902 State Landau that served for Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding and will also be used for Prince William and Kate's wedding next month and is seen above being readied for the wedding next month.


The Mail Online posted this story today about their choice of carriage:
Diana's Coach For Kate's Big Day


Lot's of fun news if you are interested in the wedding. We at Antiques And Teacups And Time Was Antiquescertainly are as we stock loads of English antiques and collectibles.

Prince Charles & Princess Diana Royal Wedding Gifts Part 3, Sugar Tongs

I am continuing with part 3 of the wedding gifts received by Prince Charles and Princess Diana at their Royal Wedding in 1981 from the gift catalog of the gift exhibition held at St. James Palace after the wedding.

205.  Wedgwood glass decanter and 24 tumblers       Staffordshire CntyCouncil
206.  Herend porcelain salmon dish                                  Gen'l Trading Co, London
207.  large handbell used at Gordonstoun school        Scotland
208.  Georgia silver salver arms of George IV                 Florence, Italy
209.  Herend porcelain ducks                                                 Scotland

213. a book "Collecting Miniatures" by Daphne Foskett       Cheshire
214. a milk jug and covered butter dish                                        London
215. a Herend porcelain rooster                                                       London

     220. walking stick w/ badger's head, 8 Newmarket leg
               bandages for horses                                                                       Leicestershire

221. Royal Worcester game casserole                                            Kent
223. Herend porcelain owl                                                                  Berkshire

                                                  
226. handworked Irish linen traycloths                                       Norfolk
228. Staffordshire china cheese knife                                            Cheshire
230.  set of 8 gold and enamel coffee spoons                                Surrey
232. set of table mats                                                                             Berkshire
234. 2 pairs of wood salt & pepper grinders                                London
246. a decorated egg                                                                               Northumberland
247. box of decorated soaps                                                                Blackpool
248. a wooden egg timer                                                                       Hereford

250. a lace garter made by the donor                                            USA

251. green velvet lavender pin cushion                                           Australia
252. a decorated egg                                                                                Kent
254. 2 "Wedding Day" cups and saucers                                       London

256. a Welsh carved wooden love spoon                                             Wales
257. book "Happiness and How To Find It                                         Wales
258. a silver bunny ring minder                                                              W Sussex

259. a box of Highland Toffee                                                             Scotland
265. a small lucky mascot                                                                    London
268. a grain of rice in a silver container with a Good Luck
    message on it & mini spy glass to read it                                   Sussex
269. book "Language Of The Flowers"                                            USA
270. a Bible and small silver sugar tongs                                      Wiltshire

                                   
As the last gift I covered today was a pair of sugar tongs, I have added the above photo of n English hallmarked pair of spoon ended sugar tongs at Time Was Antiques as an example. I don't know if theirs were spoon ends or claw ends, but there is a claw end pair from our stock at Time Was Antiques:

To see more info on either one, just click on the photo.


It's raining again here, but we had 2 lovely, sunny days. We could clearly see the coast of Vancouver Island, and the areas surrounding Victoria, B.C. Canada across the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Gorgeous! We have had 3 Orca playing in the harbor of Port Angeles, inside the breakwater for the last 2 days as well. How fun! They were easily seen from the docks and Coho Ferry. This is a fairly unusual thing, so a great excitement to us locals.


Have a great day, and have a cup of tea with a friend.

Royal Wedding Wednesday - Kate and Will Request Charitable Donation instead of wedding gifts

The Prince Of Wales website has just announcedthat Prince William and Kate Middleton in gratitude for the best wishes received by them for their upcoming wedding, have launched a charitable giving website and are encouraging donations rather than wedding gifts.


I think that's pretty cool!  I have been chronicling the wedding gifts received by Prince William's parents Prince Charles and Princess Diana. There were nearly 1,000 on exhibit in London several months after the wedding when we visited the exhibition at St. James Palace.


To read the press release by the Prince of Wales or use the link for a charitable giving wedding gift, here is the link:


The Prince William and Catherine Middleton Charitable Gift Fund

These are English bone china Royal Wedding mugs available on my website Time Was Antiques. To purchase, click on the photos.

Have a great day!

Royal Wedding Wednesday - Charles And Diana Wedding Gifts pt 2, Belleek Shamrock items

Welcome to Royal Wedding Wednesday with part 2 of the wedding gifts received by Prince Charles and Princess Diana at their wedding in 1981.


The comments I have received are mostly of amazement at the very ordinariness of the gifts. The same sort of things you or I might have received...although not 1,000+. And the biggies were probably not part of the exhibit at St. James Palace in London where I got this gift catalog I am sharing from So.... Some of the photos are from the stock past or present of my website Time Was Antiques and several are courtesy of Google.com.


80.    a pair of pillowcases                                       Northern Ireland
81.     a silver toothpaste tube key                         USA

                
82.   a photograph album                                              Australia
83.  Austrian lead crystal paperwieght                  London
84.  a "Good Luck" black cat                                        West Midlands
85.  a large Wedgwood mug                                        Surrey
88.  2 crochet mats                                                           Yorkshire
91. a Goblin radio Teasmade                                      USA

                                                
97.  a fleet of model ships in case                                              Hampshire
99.  a hand knitted donkey toy                                                  London
103.  an ashtray with photo of hot air balloon                  London
105. a Spode Derby plate                                                             Wiltshire
108. a leather case of needles                                                     Warwickshire
109. a breadboard and loaves in shapes                               Hampshire
112-128 various prints, paintings and sketches                  various
139.  a Herend cache pot                                                               Winchester

148. nine Lalique crystal ashtrays                                           Kenilworth
153.  a pair of glass sparrows                                                      Norfolk
154.  a fishing reel in a velvet case                                            Scotland
158. a rag doll made by donor                                                     Gloucestershire
160. Herend porcelain breakfast set                                         Monaco
171  a Spode breakfast set for two                                             Hampshire
172  a pair of brass wall lights                                                    London
173  tartan travelling rug                                                             Isle Of Man
175 a leather waste paper basket                                              London
177  a pair of bellows                                                                       London

                                 
179.  2 china mice                                                                            Hampshire
188.  a silver toast rack                                                                 London

194.  2 sets of Spode cups and saucers                                     City of Stoke-on-trent
198.  a Royal Copenhagen stag figurine                                  Kings Lynn

199.  small Wedgwood cameo of the Prince Regent                Sussex
200.  a leather traveling address book                                         France


Okay...that's enough for the moment. A very mixed bag!


To change gears, in honor of St. Patrick's Day I want to share several items of Irish Belleek eggshell porcelain with shamrock patterns from Time Was Antiques. I just love them and their luster finish is lovely.

Aren't they lovely? For more info on the Belleek, click on the photos.


I plan to cook my corned beef tomorrow after soaking it to get rid of some of the extra salt. Then I will do half the cooking time tomorrow in the crock pot and finish on Thursday with potatoes,cabbage, onions and carrots. A favorite St. Patrick's Day meal.  Hope you enjoy an Irish flare this week.

And on the news front of the fast approaching wedding of William and Kate, the music was announced today. You can read more about that at this link:
Royal Wedding music

Have a great day...and in the words of a vintage Irish tea towel we sold recently"

May You be in Heaven Half An Hour 

Before The Devil Knows Your Dead.

Royal Wedding Wednesday - Charles And Diana Wedding Gifts

I am joining Royal Wedding Wednesdays with Decor To Adore, but as I can't possibly keep up with her Bridesmaid Disasters of last week (LOL!!!) or this week's What To Wear, I thought I would post what I DO know in relationship to royal weddings.


As an antique dealer with a specialty in British Royal memorabilia on my website Time Was Antiques, I decided to share excerpts from the catalog of Royal Wedding gifts that Prince Charles and Princess Diana received at their wedding in 1981 and were subsequently on display at St. James Palace, London where I bought the catalog. I listed the gift catalog on Time Was Antiques last June. When Will and Kate announced their engagement in November, the gift catalog was purchased by an NBC producer for a show in the future. But I had notes I had made about the gifts which I will be sharing some of during the next few weeks.


There were 994 gifts recorded in the catalog and on display at St. James Palace from the sublime to the ridiculous. There was certainly a lot of humor, a lot of love and thought and for many, a lot of time and effort spent in the gifts. Here are some illustrated by photos of similar items, many from Google's photo lists. I have not identified gifts by name, just location and maybe the organization if that was who the giver was:


      Item                                                             Form Whom/where


#1  a long case clock                          The Order of the Bath

2    a Georgian design mahogany library ladder              Hertfordshire
3   a crystal vase                                                            London
5   antique silver-gilt inkwell with shell lid                   Middlesex                
6  Isle Of Wight glass vase                                            Isle Of Wight

8  Herend porcelain pheasant                                          Norfolk

9  a tray and tray stand                                                          Scotland
10  a blue and white tray                                                      London

11  a breakfast tray                                                               Hertfordshire
12 a picnic basket equipped for 6                                          Suffolk

14  an antique whatnot                                                       Gray's Inn
16  2 pillows and 2 fishing satchels                                     Norfolk
18  set of 8 crystal tumblers                                              Hampshire
19 a Megamix food processor                                             London
20  a videocassette recorder                                              Hampshire
21  Victorian gaming and work table                                  London
22  an inlaid screen and breakfast table                            London
23  pair of Chippendale hanging shelves                            Lancaster
24  2 Mason's blue poppy lamps with blue silk shades        Norfolk
25  a pair of boot scrapers                                                Suffolk
26  large wicker dog basket                                               Yorkshire
28  large dog basket                                                          Scotland
29 Aynsley Rosedale tea service                                         British Ceramics Assoc
30  a microwave oven                                                        Toshiba
33  an inscribed garden trug                                              East Sussex
38  a pair of miniature chairs made by the donor               Elf Miniature Furniture
39 a Steuben crystal frog                                                  Cheshire
47 pair of engraved pen and pencils                                  USA
49 white mohair jersey with hedgehog on front                 Cornwall
53 gilded mantlepiece clock                                              Duke & Duchess of Bedford
63 Royal Crown Derby dessert service                               People of Derby
65 Herend porcelain duck                                                 London

                
69  a horse brass                                                                Surrey
70  decorated egg containing a bride and groom                USA
71  2 hand knitted orange/yellow ski hats                           USA
74  2 books on Chile                                                           Anglo Chilean Society
75  a tea cozy knitted by the donor                                   Cheshire
78  a hand knitted tea cozy                                                Jersey
79  wooden hand carved fruit bowl                                     48th Leeds Brownies


So there is an installment of the gifts Charles and Diana received. I'll list some more next week. It's really fun to see what they got......


Have a great day and check the Royal Wedding Wednesday post to see what to wear!