Fall Fun Coupon 15% Off and Antique Clay Pipe Bowls

 Hi there. Just wanted to let you know that we are having a FALL FUN 15% off promotion at Time Was Antiques with coupon code 018.  Celebrating the changing season!  Just click the pumpkins above!

And for something a little different, I wanted to share the photos of some antique clay pipe bowls that I recently sold to a man who is a Civil War enactor and educator who is always looking for interesting items dating up to the civil war period of 1850. I had acquired a lot of antique pipe bowls and a few pipe stems on one of my English buying trips and he was excited to get them. He is also a potter and is planning to try making one so he can demonstrate at one of his education times on a battlefield. The following date from 1780-1860:

 This is a glazed pipe bowl with a corroded copper ring left on it

This pipe bowl is of glazed ceramic and features a hand painted design of a sheep or deer
 

 
This is my favorite as it is a figural clay pipe bowl that is shaped like a horse's hoof.

This set is quite fun. There is an unusual layered or marbled clay pipe. The one with the partial stem has an embossed leaf design along the front and back and the bottom one has a scratched in or scgraphito bird design.
 

This set shows different colored clays and molding techniques and how small the hole in a pipe stem often was.
 

This set included 2 with anchors embossed on them which was a very popular design around the time of the Battle Of Trafalgar in the early 1800s.

So...that's my tale of the pipes. Maybe you'll see them or others the next time you visit a Civil War enactment camp and see an educator at work! My small contributuin to furthering historical knowledge!

Have a great day and have a cuppa with a friend. We are off for a day out today.
Cheers! 

Queen Mum, Glamis Castle, Mey Castle, Teacup Thursday

Hello! I am joining Teacup Thursday with Miss Spenser's and the other wonderful blogs who are participating. I am actually sharing a mug today, because I don't have a teacup to share with the theme I chose.

 This is a loving cup made by Royal Doulton to commemorate the Queen Mum's 80th birthday in 1980, which is my "teacup" for today. This is what prompted my choice:

I would like to show you a portrait of the dowager Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI and mother of the current Queen Elizabeth II who was known as the Queen Mum until her death in 2002 at the age of 102, that I found recently.

"The Duchess of York" by Philip de László, 1925 detail.

 

This is quite the best I have seen. It was in the current issue of  Britain magazine.

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon as a young girl

As a young queen Elizabeth with her husband George VI on my tea caddy always front and center on my kitchen counter that made for the coronation in 1937.

Elizabeth was born at Glamis Castle which is situated in Scotland, 12 miles from Dundee and is reported to be the most haunted castle in Scotland. The castle apparently was the basis of Shakespear's Macbeth.

The Queen Mum's favorite castle was Mey Castle in Caithness, Scotland which she gifted to the nation..

Here is a menu from the Castle of Mey tea room which I found quite fun:

Hot Soups served 10.00 to 4.00pm
with Cheese Scone, Oatcake or Bread and Butter.

• Cullen Skink
• Broccoli and Stilton

Sandwiches

• Aberdeen Angus Roast Beef and Horseradish
• Honey-baked Ham with Mustard
• Caithness Egg Mayonnaise

Salads

• Poached Salmon with Lemon
• Caithness Cheese Ploughman's

Hot Dish of the Day 12.00 to 3.00 pm.

• Mey Selection Aberdeen Angus Beef Cottage Pie
  with Vegetables and Potatoes

Hot Baked Potatoes

• Chilli Con Carne
• Coleslaw and Cheese

Puddings

• Castle Garden Rhubarb Cranachan
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Lemon Meringue Pie

Considered the nation's Queen Mum for her outstanding character as a wife, mother, Christian and for her bravery during the war she is to many, the favorite royal and was sincerely mourned.

Have a wonderful time visiting the teacups being shared. For more info on the Queen Mum 80th birthday loving cup at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos.

Teacup Tuesday Royal Doulton Brambly Hedge, London Taxi Poem

Welcome to the Tuesday blog parties where everything relates to taking tea. I have the list of parties I am joining at the bottom.

This is a boxed teacup and here is a panel from the box. I love it!

As it is looking and feeling like autumn, I am sharing the Autumn cup and saucer made by Royal Doulton, England from the wonderful books by Jill Barklem called Brambly Hedge. I used to teach kindergarten and they were a favorite with the children...as well as myself. The illustrations are fabulous!
For more info on the Brambly Hedge Autumn cup and saucer at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos.

From the website home page:

Welcome to Brambly Hedge

Brambly Hedge is on the other side of the stream, across the field. If you can find it, and if you look very hard amongst the tangled roots and stems, you may even see a wisp of smoke from a small chimney, or through an open door, a steep flight of stairs deep within the trunk of a tree. For this is the home of the mice of Brambly Hedge. The mice of Brambly Hedge live together in a close-knit community making best use of what each season has to offer.

 Now this doesn't relate to teacups necessarily, other than the link of taking tea really being popularized in the UK, but I came across a poem to the London Taxi:

The London taxi is a relic

For which my zeal is evangelic.

It's designed for people wearing hats,

And not for racing Bonneville Flats.

A man can get out, or a lady in;

When you sit, your knees don't bump you chin.

The driver so deep in the past is sunk

That he'll help you with your bags and trunk;

Indeed he's such a fuddy-duddy

That he calls you Sir instead of Buddy.

Ogden Nash (who else??!)

All because I was looking at the September/October 2009 issue of Victoria magazine with the title The Return of our British Issue, for which I was highly delighted.

I am joining the following tea time blogs today:

Ruth ~ http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/
Teacup Tuesday

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday 
Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Wanda Lee~  http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Pam~  http://breathoffreshair-paperbutterfly.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Wanda Lee~  http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/ 
Tea For Two and Wednesday Tea For Me and Thee

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Lady Katherine~  http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/ 
Teatime Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday 

 

Lighter Side Of Queen Elizabeth II Video

I just came across the video on The Royal Channel at Youtube and love it! You usually see the more serious side of Queen Elizabeth II, but this is her lighter side and quite fun.
 

Fall is here...September in Full Swing, Fall Tea Caddy Microwave Lemon Curd

If you had any doubts about fall having made it's appearance, here in the Pacific Northwest you just need to walk outside and look around. The leaves are turning and today at least the fog and rain clouds were lingering around the peaks in Olympic National Park all day and have been drifting lower as the day aged. 

 This is a Sadler, England tea caddy in fall colors that I love. Tea caddies were (an still are in our house) an important item for storing the tea that is essential to most Englishmen's well being. I couldn't believe it when I found my DH's favorite black tea, Ty-Phoo Tea from England at our new Grocery Outlet that we visited for the first time yesterday. We usually have to get it from a Brit food importer!!! So, tea caddies are essential in our home.

Tea was originally a drink for the wealthy and was kept in locked tea caddies. That has evolved over the years to be just a tin, box or jar with a nice fitting lid and a pleasing pattern and/or shape to store tea on a counter ready to hand for the various tea times in a tea drinking home. There is early morning tea with a biscuit (cookies to Yanks), Elevenses...can be with another biscuit, then afternoon tea...with, guess what! a biscuit! Then after dinner tea...which nowadays is becoming a decaf or herbal. For more info on the Fall Tea Caddy above at Time Was Antiques, click on the photo.

I have recently received 2 emails asking for the Microwave Lemon Curd recipe I published in a newsletter back in 2003, so I wanted to share it here. Lemon curd is a popular staple of tea tables because it is so versatile. Lemon curd is great on scones, in tarts, on crumpets and muffins and can even make an unusual tea sandwich.


Microwave Lemon Curd

8 tbs unsalted butter
grated peel of 3 large lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar


In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar lemon peel and juice until well blended. Whisk in the melted butter. Microwave on high 4-6 minutes, whicking often until the curd has thickened enough to coat a wooden spoon. Can be stored covered in the refridgerator for up to a month...but mine has never lasted that long!


Have a great day and don't forget to have a cup of tea with a friend! 
Cheers!

 

Teacup Tuesday, Early Staffordshire Shell pattern, Victorian Carpet Balls or Bowls

Hello and welcome to Teacup Tuesday with these fine blogs:

Wanda Lee~ http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/ 

Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Pam~ http://breathoffreshair-paperbutterfly.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Wanda Lee~ http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/
Tea For Two and Wednesday Tea For Me and Thee 
Donna~  http://thehomemakingarts.blogspot.com/ 
Tuesday Tea 
Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/
Tea Party Tuesday 
Lady Katherine~ http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/ 
Teatime Tuesday

Sandi ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

Tea Time Tuesday

Ruth ~ http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/
Teacup Tuesday

Today I am sharing mid Victorian Early Staffordshire teacup trio with the prettiest seashell motif. The set of cup and saucer with matching plate was made in the Staffordshire region of England somewhere between 1879-1890. The material is called soft paste porcelain and could have been made by any one of several potters in the region.

Isn't that the prettiest pattern? I really love the mid Victorian Staffordshire patterns. The design is usually classed as Aesthetic Movement, or English Arts And Crafts. I love that period! 

For more info on the Early Staffordshire seashell teacup trio at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos. 

Okay...what is this???

  

I'll tell you it measures 3.5 to 4 inches in diameter. A large marble? That's not to far off. This is a Victorian  carpet ball or carpet bowl (as in carpet bowling) which were a big fad in the early to mid Victorian era ending mostly around the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Carpet balls were made of fired clay and decorated with many cheerful patterns and colors and were used to play an indoor game similar to lawn bowling or like curling. There was a set of 12 balls of the large size and one small white ball called the "jack". Like curling, the team closest to the house at the end of the game with their balls won. The balls usually show round dents or concoidal impact marks and are extremely hard to find. I sold the last I had about 3 months ago and there must have been a mention of them in an article of magazine because I sold the last 4 to one lady but had at least 10 other inquiries, emails & calls during the next week.  They have been used by designers in the past to heap in bowls for an interesting decorator touch and a few years ago Bombay Company carried some made in china fancy glazed ones in pretty florals.  I wish I had sazed photos of all the patterns and colors of the antique ones I have had over the years, but I still had these photos in the archives:

The plaids were especially popular as Queen Victoria was quite addicted to plaid and it became wildly popular all over England.

So that's your bit of useless trivia for the day! Have fun visiting the other blogs for Teacup Tuesday! 

August from Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady, Teacup Tuesday, Zara's Wedding, Scotland Shelly Thistle Teacup

I am joining Teacup Tuesday and Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday today . The more the merrier...I just love seeing the fab teacups all you ladies share!

Ruth ~ http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/
Teacup Tuesday

Wanda Lee~ http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Pam~ http://breathoffreshair-paperbutterfly.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Wanda Lee~ http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/
Tea For Two and Wednesday Tea For Me and Thee 
Donna~  http://thehomemakingarts.blogspot.com/ 
Tuesday Tea 
Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/
Tea Party Tuesday 
Lady Katherine~ http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/ 
Teatime Tuesday 

This is one of my favorite books. The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden was written in 1906 and is a scrapbook, diary and sketchbook of a lady living in Warwickshire, England close to my husband's birthplace. I love her watercolor nature sketches. She records almost daily what she has seen or observed and  quotes bits she has read or heard that catch her interest. A truly enchanting view and record of a lost time in what was then rural England. The area now is pretty much all built over.

Mottoes for August

"All the tears St Swithin can cry

St Bartlemy's mantle wipes them dry"  

Note: St Swithin's Day is traditionally July 15th, St. Bartlemy's is another name for St. Bartholomew is usually celebrated on August 24th of the Anglican calendar

"St. Bartholomew (August 24th)

Brings the cold dew"

"If the 24th of August be fair and clear

Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year"

Poetry for August

"Fairest of months!  Ripe summer queen

The hey-day of the year

With robes that gleam with sunny sheen,

Sweet August doth appear"

by R. Combe Miller

The moor cock springs on whirring wings

among the blooming heather,

Come, let us stray our gladsome way

And view the charms of nature,

The rustling corn, the fruited thorn,

And every happy creature"

by Robert Burns

And in Scotland at Balmoral Castle for her summer holiday, Queen Elizabeth attended the wedding Saturday of her eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to Mike Tindall. Zara is the daughter of the Princess Royal, Princess Anne.

And in celebration of the Scottish theme of the week with the wedding in Edinburgh, here is a Shelley China Thistle design cup and saucer that I love.

And to go along with that, an antique Victorian silver plated thistle knife rest that is so cute! Knife rests were another of the great Victorian table top gadgets the Victorians were so fond of. Because table cloths were so difficult and time consuming to launder, the knife rest kept dirty knives off the tablecloth so helping keep it clean. There were sizes for table knives and larger ones for carving knives. A great Victorian dining gadget!

For more info on the Shelley teacup or thistle knife rest at Time Was Antiques, just click on the photos.

http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/