BBC Downton Abbey spoof episodes - Uptown Downstairs Abbey - TOO Funny!

I just posted this on my other blog, Antiques And Teacups,  but wanted to post it here as well.


From a blog I follow, Jane Austen Today, I received notification that they had posted a BBC spoof of Downton Abbey called Uptown Downstairs abbey with such famous British actors as Joanna Lumley and Simon Callow. It is really funny with all sorts of innuendo and thrown away reference lines. The music and setting are from Downton Abbey and Highclere Castle. Too funny!


I especially liked the reference to the Teasmade...which I just posted on Royal Wedding Wednesday with a photo because Prince Charles & Princess Diana got one as a wedding present. 


Anyway, lots of laughs. We loved it!
Uptown Downstairs Abbey spoof at Jane Austen for Today

Royal Wedding Mug BooBoo - Kate & Harry

Metro Online UK has just published an article about the goof a Chinese mug maker made on a Royal Wedding mug. Instead of Kate & Will, it's Kate & Harry...wonder if he knows?  

Just had to share that! TeeHee!!! That will probably be a collector's piece! Too bad I don't have a few at Time Was Antiques...I just have Kate & Will mugs!!!

BBC British Royal Wedding Build Up Starts March 22

A date I won't forget...my son's birthday. The BBC has announced a lead up to the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton of all sorts of programs related to the British Royal family.

They are being shown on BBC America, so you'll have to check with your local provider to see if you get that channel. Here is a list of some of the special programs that have been announced:

3/22  Prince William & Prince Harry: Into The Future

3/29  Modern Monarchy: Dos and Don'ts

3/19  Modern Monarchy: Here and There

4/12  Royally Mad

4/24  Diana's Dresses

4/24  Princess Diana: Her Life in Jewels

4/24  William And Harry: The Brother Princes

4/26  All The Queen's Horses

4/26  Memories Of A Queen

4/26  Art of Diana

4/27  Royal London

4/27  How to Be A Prince

4/29 The Royal Wedding 

That's enough...I guess...to satisfy any royal enthusiast! We'll be watching!

Visit Time Was Antiques for our extensive stock of items relating to the British Royal family from Queen Victoria to Prince William.

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.

Union Jack painted dresser at Miss Mustard Seed's blog

I came across this and had to share it...it is TOOO cool! As a 1/2 Brit & married to a Brit I was thrilled when I saw this on Miss Mustard Seed's blog and wanted to share it. Now if I can just find room for a chest to paint....

Cheers!

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!