A Plethora of Plates

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long! I've been missing this blog an awful lot. It's one of my creative outlets and when I wasn't able to check in on it, I was definitely out of sorts. I'm rather embarrassed to confess this, but I'm not the most tech-savvy person and for reasons I'm unable to determine, I've been unable to create a new post. So glad I got a bee up my bonnet and tried again today one last time before giving up for good. And today was a good time to try because I have some fresh new finds to share.

I was able to pop into two shops today and in the first one I found a small stash of vintage grey Harkerware plates in the Chesterton Grey pattern.

I'm feeling like this is my pattern du jour because when I was briefly in Philadelphia earlier this month, I found the matching salt and pepper shakers....however, sadly, I left them in my friend's car. We shall judge just how good a friend she is by seeing how long it takes before she sends them back to me! HINT, HINT!

In addition to the salt and pepper shakers, I already had the gravy boat in this color. I also have a number of pieces of Harkerware in a very similar deep teal green pattern called Corinthian, which I absolutely love, but I'm really digging this rich dove grey right now!

Speaking of Harkerware, my friend Lynn came up my way over the summer and brought me quite literally a trunkload of Harkerware! Her generosity astounds me, what a lovely gift and I will treasure these pieces. As I believe I've mentioned on the blog before, my collection began so modestly and unexpectedly when I inherited an old Cameoware bowl from my mother, who inherited it from her mother. It used to sit on our dining room table and quite frankly, I didn't think too much of it when I was younger! I felt it had seen better days and indeed it has. Ironically, it is the bowl's "well-loved" appearance that warms my heart now, and I began to pick up a piece here and there in antique stores. This was before I cut out the middle man and began to hunt for these things in thrift stores. Over the years, I collected maybe ten pieces. And then I met Lynn! She has her own interesting story of how she ended up with a basement full of Harkerware, but suffice it to say, she is generous and thoughtful and when she found out how much I love Harkerware, she passed along the bulk of her collection to me. Here is a just a sample of what she gave me this summer--get a load of that awesome deco canister!

But back to today, when the china gods were smiling on me and I also found a couple of other pieces from patterns I collect. Here is a slightly worn plate in the Mar-Crest Daisy Dot pattern. I have many service pieces in this pattern but have never come across a plate before. The store actually had two, but the other one was even more tired looking and had a large repaired crack. This one will be fine for display behind some of my other pieces to fill out my collection.

And this platter might look somewhat familiar to my long time followers. I have bushels of this Taylor Smith Taylor pattern (beautifully named Ever Yours Boutonniere) in the turquoise color way, and actually never knew it came in the less common yellow as well until a couple of years ago when I found a couple of small bowls. The yellow pattern is called "Golden Button." I wavered on whether I should bring this home, but my son decided he really liked it and said I should so I did. I am pretty easy to convince!

And that about wraps it up for today. I will try to jump back in and get you caught up on some of the wonderful finds I've collected over the summer. Until then, happy hunting!