I've been in love with china for a long time now. It might have started once when I was on vacation in a small Utah town about forty years ago. There was a little china shop on the main street. It wasn't an antiques store, though there may have been a bit of furniture and a few accessories. It was mainly this dazzling wall of the prettiest china patterns you could ever imagine. I have never forgotten it. and I think I have wanted to have my own little china shop ever since.
It's funny how you gravitate toward things. Blue china is probably near the top of most people's list. But it's only lately that I have been possessed by it. So when I came across this box of English china at a seriously give away price I didn't give it a second thought. There is not a chip anywhere on the pieces of this very old pattern, so someone cherished this set a lot.
It was really the detail inside the cups that enchanted me, but all the details of the design are lovely.
I have collected stray pieces of beautiful blue china for the last few years with the intention of selling it, but the only pieces that have made it into the shop have been things I knew I would never use. Serving pieces and such. And now I have been inspired by the NYC cafe Maman that some of you no doubt know of. Their website link is here.
Maman serves all their coffee and pastries on beautiful pieces of vintage blue transfer ware china in mixed patterns. But even if you never get a chance to go there, their website and Instagram pages are wonderful to peruse. And I think my family and friends are going to be seeing lots of blue china on our table for a while too!
"The Thames" by Pountney & Co. Ltd.
I have still more blue patterns for mixing and matching tucked away. I would love to have my own cake and coffee shop!!! (Okay, maybe just go to one. LOL!)
So what are you dreaming about these days?
I hope it's the start of a great week for you!
Happy April! (No foolin'!)
Jacqueline
I’ve got a thing for china as well. Actually any kind of crockery. I’m a potter so that’s understandable, but husband doesn’t get it. He just announced yesterday that we own SiXTY plates, he had counted them, and that’s ridiculous as we don’t know sixty people! Perhaps I should suggest we open a pie shop! That’s some gorgeous stuff you got there. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThat Wild Flower Spode is gorgeous. I've re-captivated by blue and white the last year or so. .
ReplyDeleteI started collecting dishes over 45 years ago, and it was blue and white. I kind of left the blue and white and went for whatever caught my eye. However this past year it’s been back to blue and white. It’s so classic. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI love your collection. I love blue and white also and collect it. Nice blog post. Happy April to you also.
ReplyDeleteSo gorgeous Jacqueline! 💙 I can see why you couldn’t pass it up!
ReplyDeleteThis combines four of my favorite things -- England, china, transferware and blue! I would have snatched this up in a heartbeat. It's really beautiful, so fresh and springlike, too. The English do china so well, don't they? Always have, always will. This is splendid.
ReplyDeleteThough I love all things white, I do love blue and white dishes. I have lots of them. Happy Spring! Donna@gather
ReplyDeleteI am totally smitten!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful set! My Aunt & Uncle was in the Air Force and gave my parents a lovely tea set with dragons and Oriental looking royalty on them. The tea cup has what they call a Geisha girl that appears when held up to the light (a lithopane). It always fascinated me because it's as though I could count each strand of her hair. From what I researched it's called a Kutani tea set. We moved several times and so I only have 3 cups left and one is chipped on the edge. Mom wanted to throw it out but I snagged it and put some pearls and a rhinestone button inside for a cute little vignette on my vanity. She later gifted me the remaining pieces. I don't have a lot of space so I began collecting some tea cups/saucers that caught my fancy. A store would order just one tea cup and saucer and now it's very vogue to have mismatched ones on the table but back then it wasn't. If I could find them very reasonable I would like one each of the ones that have the English cottage scenes on them. If I could have one complete set I would choose Royal Albert's Old Country Roses. It's a classic and I love gardening. They are very pretty roses.
ReplyDeleteWell now I am dreaming about these dishes. The inside of the cup would have snagged me too. Love details like this. If it was pink or red I'd be begging for you to share with me.
ReplyDeleteGood thing it isn't so you don't have to ship to NJ.
Enjoy your treasures
Cindy
DRooooooooooL, slurp! OMG...what a haul!!
ReplyDeleteThe detail work is beyond beautiful. What a great find.
ReplyDeleteI think blue and white is a very restful combination but that hasn’t stopped me buying some pink and red transferware. We don’t have lots of room but I do enjoy looking for plates that show places I have visited. I have Chatsworth, Haddon Hall, York Minster, Neuschwannstein, even Niagara Falls!
ReplyDeleteThe inside of the coffee cup AND the design on its handle! Swoon! thanks
ReplyDeleteBeautiful💙
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Linda :o)
Beautiful china! I have “Blue Willow” China.......from my Grandma Ella. Those are cherished.
ReplyDeleteDear goodness....so lovely!!!
ReplyDeleteI collect blue onion tansferware - I love it so much! I was so fortunate to find a lot of it at Goodwill, just when I first started collecting. Rarely find a peace there anymore. I love your blue and white china, absolutely lovely!
ReplyDeleteJacqueline,
ReplyDeleteWhat a magnificent find!
The attention to detail is exquisite!
Now. . .about that cake and coffee shop. . .
One can definitely dream!
Pat
Beautiful! Love your new vintage floral blue set💖
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ReplyDeleteSeriously I have loved blue and white china since age 14.
I'm a senior now and still love it.
I love all your pretty pieces especially the spode pieces
Beautiful! For many years I resisted the draw to china, but once I got into tea I fell. Now I can't stop even though I need to resist. I am running out of room. The inside pattern of the cups is what first caught my eye too. Oh sigh, now I want more blue. I try to collect only teacups in different transferware patterns, no two match and I love that.
ReplyDeleteOhhh it is soooo beautiful. I have been on the look out for Vintage pale blue china for at least ten years. Something just like yours. You are truly lucky. I only have a few pieces from England but would be ever so happy to find just one tea cup and saucer to use daily. Enjoy your blue treasure.
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