Some Recent Finds

My husband and I made another road trip to the Coxsackie antique and collectible shops on Rte 9W in Greene County last week and I found some real treasures.

First off:  four lovely green glass salad [or maybe sandwich] plates in a thumb print pattern.  These match some depression glass pieces I already have, in color though not in pattern.  Which is fine with me since I do tend to do the mix and match shabby chic thing.  I don't think these are depression glass though because of the presence of tiny bubbles which make me think these plates may have been hand-blown.

Then, I found this lovely Japan ware Phoenix pattern syrup pitcher and oval serving bowl.  The syrup pitcher has a lid that completely covers the spout and must be removed before pouring.  I had never seen the pattern before but it was love at first sight.  I am thinking of pairing this with my pale blue depression glass breakfast set the next time I serve pancakes or French toast with fruit.

Here is a detailed close up of the phoenix motif.  I suspect these were restaurant pieces because of the heft of the porcelain.  We are not talking delicate translucent china by any means.  Although the glaze and design mimic high end ware, I am reasonably certain this graced the table of some modest commercial establishment.  The mark on the bottom simply says Made in Japan.  I would date it to the 1950s or so.

Some more shabby chic: sixteen mismatched silver plated iced tea spoons.  I recently ran across a method for making cold brewed iced coffee syrup to avoid the bitterness that iced coffee often has. See this link for directions.  That and a yen for some solar tea had me scrambling for iced tea spoons.  It seems I only had the one and it was stainless steel.  Now, I have a treasure trove of silver plated spoons and all I had to do was dig through two 3x3x3 boxes brimming with assorted spoons marked @ $1.00.

I picked up another sugar shell and an interesting serving spoon to use with my oval dish [see above].

And I couldn't resist a teaspoon with a pattern that looks like pebbles viewed through a stream of running water.  I haven't researched this yet to find the true name of the pattern but I have started calling it my Babbling Brook spoon.  

And I hit the jackpot when it came to stitching accessories.  I always look for stitching related stuff but aside from the occasional button jar, I rarely find any.  This time I found not one but two animal themed pin cushions.  Serendipitously, SANQ is running a two part series on animal pin cushions this issue and next.  The first one I came across was this crazy little turtle lying on his back and with a very surprised look on his face.  He is seven inches long from tail to head and is about three inches high.  The pottery body is textured but unglazed and his belly is a worn and faded gold velvet cushion.  He has black and white flat glass eyes.

Here is a close-up. There is a tiny chip missing from the top of his left eye but the piece is in remarkable condition otherwise.  Judging by the wear on the fabric I am thinking this might be a late 19th century piece but I am not sure how I would go about researching it.  I'll be checking out a few Internet sites and I'll look at the footnotes in the SANQ articles to get further leads.

The second pin cushion is probably a mid 20th century piece.  Much smaller than the turtle, it is a white glazed ceramic rabbit with the cushion on its back and surrounded by tiny flowers.

So, all in all, a very good haul.  The funny thing is that I went in looking for a brass handled walking stick for my husband.  He needs a cane due to rheumatism and arthritis but he dislikes the generic drugstore variety.  He prefers something with more character.  Our next road trip will have to be to a huge place on Rte 17 in Ulster County.  I may have better luck finding a walking stick there.