A Message from Ruth at Antiques And Teacups

Welcome to the blog of Antiques And Teacups! Let's share a cup of tea and talk about the things we love...like teacups, antiques, collectibles, visiting England, antiquing and learning about victoriana and quirky gadgets. Fun!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, April Teacups, Pompeii, Chihuly

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! I have a diverse post today...which happens when I have a lot to share!




Thanks for the encouraging comments on the website revise...I have it almost designed and am transferring inventory...a "fun" thing to do with 1000 + items and 5,000 photos needing to be moved....but a friend helped with data transfer. Only the photos need to be transferred one by one, so that is in progress. I am getting through it! But on to more interesting things!



My teacup today is actually 2...and demonstrates what the china companies often have done through several centuries....here is the April Sweet Pea teacup by Royal Albert in their Flower Of The Month series...




The design is from the newer Flower Of  The Month series, which is in a different shape and design then the older set from the 1940-1950s. The Flower of The Month series comes in a regular sized cup and saucer, smaller demitasse size and the very small miniature version. They all have exactly the same design.  And then we have:



The April teacup with Sweet Peas by Queens, England...who used to make Rosina...in their Flower Of The Month series....look familiar?



As you can see, the designs are very similar.  The colors are slightly different, but...that has been the case over the history of pottery making...it's a very imitative business. A pottery makes something that is popular, and others follow. What has also made it interesting, is there are design manufacturers who design the decals used to decorate china, and any pottery can buy them if they don't have their own designers.  Some of those makers over the years have been Hulmes or Cappers. 



Some of them, I don't know the design house's name...just recognize the pattern over different potteries. The one good thing, is it makes replacing something broken or mix and match easier if you are more interested in the design rather than the maker.  On many patterns, the design may be the same but the name may differ...each pottery putting their own stamp on the pattern by naming it differently. Makes collecting china so much fun!



On a grey day a week ago, we took the ferry over to Seattle to attend the Pompeii Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle....



The arches are the center of  Pacific Center, and we had to cross under them to get to the museum housing the exhibit....it was grey when we went in....



I love the great life sized Orca sculptures in the fountain outside the museum...

The exhibit from the Pompeii Excavation Museum in Italy takes you throught the day of August 24, 79 AD when Mt Vesuvious erupts...totally surprising and eventually burying the entire city of Pompeii under 27 feet of  ash in a 24 hour period.



As I mentioned last week, I have degrees in Physical Anthropology and visited Pompeii in 1967, so couldn't miss the exhibit. My husband knew little about the period, so he was very interested.   The city was buried and lost until 1740 when a bit was discovered and excavated. But it wasn't until the 1930-1940s when bigger excavations were done...and the last of the city, which actually held the most bodies wasn't discovered until 20 years ago....



The thing which is fascinating, is that the citizens who died were encased in ash and became molds that when injected with plaster replicate the bodies that had burned away inside the casings. There were many on exhibit, some of them which I remembered from 1967.



Because of the way the city was intombed, whole homes were preserved, and the exhibit had some of the artifacts...above are finely made bronze lamps, including a 3 armed branching candelabra...



Examples of finely wrought Roman glass vessels, surprisingly intact...



Several cases of finely made gold jewelry...my husband...who spent 40 years as a Diamond setter and jeweler was really impressed with the skill...I apologize for the photos...taken with my iPhone...you could take photos but no flash...

And wonderful pottery, sculptures, frescos...basically everything. I loved the dog and rooster pottery pitchers in the photo above...




When we came out the weather had cleared, and went to lunch at the Collections Cafe of the Chihuly Garden and Glass in the Pacific Center not far from the museum...



If you don't know Dale Chihuly, he is a Seattle art glass creator with installations around the world...there is a huge one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the Celebrity Constellation cruise ship and in museums around the world...



The Collections cafe has a wall of his glass drawings, and each table is a different showcase of his passion for collecting...there were chalkware string holders, tin toys, jackknives...the wall of the ladies bathroom is floor to ceiling cases of brass figural bottle openers...mercury silver bottles, Fiesta ware,accordions hanging from the ceiling...you get the idea...here are some of the tables...



A collection of Bakelite clocks....



Accordions on the ceiling...


Chalkware string holders...love these!



Glass reamers or juicers...



Mercury glass Christmas ornaments...



Cast iron dog doorstops....good thing we were early, and not many tables were occupied yet!  And then...lunch!







 We had fresh caught Halibut fish and chips...which I forgot to photo...we were hungry! and followed that with tea for two, and for dessert...



Beignets with white chocolate and mixed fruit dipping sauces, with sliced strawberries and blood orange slices. Absolutely delicious! Hadn't had beignets since a cruise down the Mississippi River boat on the American Queen paddle wheeler in the 1990s with my Aunt Ruth! The tea was Revolution brand, in a silken pyramid teabag that arrives in a box...nice English Breakfast...my husband's favorite....



So there you have it! Hope you have enjoyed your tea visit!
Below is the list of some of the blog parties I will be part of and there is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and can find you to visit!



16 comments:

  1. I just love the RA Flower of the Month series teacups. It is so interesting and a bit confusing to see similar patterns among different potteries. Even within RA there are so many different cup styles within the same pattern.
    I'm a museum fanatic and would love to see the Pompei exhibit. It's amazing that the glass and bronze is in such great condition. Two years ago I was in Seattle and went to the Chihuly center but not the cafe. I just love his work!
    Glad you are making progress with your website renovations. Such a huge undertaking. Best wishes for continued success!
    Have a nice week. ~Nora

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  2. I run across the Queens too. I sell birthday of the month but I am always out of some. I do the older Royal Albert and Japanese but none of newer Indonesia Royal Albert. People do appreciate the English when you explain the outsourcing. You have a lot of interesting information here in this posting. You certainly spent some time on this and made for a wonderful post.

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  3. I enjoyed your post today. I have been fortunate enough to see some of Chihuly's work at the Corning Glass Museum in Corning, NY. Here is a link to the current display of his work. http://blog.cmog.org/2013/03/06/chihulys-fern-green-tower/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chihulys-fern-green-tower

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  4. Oh my goodness, what a fun trip you had! The collections cafe was really cool, I especially liked the cast iron dog doorstops. The art glass is wonderful too, I have seen maybe the same thing at our St. Louis Botanical Gardens exhibit before. The glass is beautiful!
    I also liked your April teacup (I'm an April baby) and the info you told us about those.
    Thanks so much for hosting and have a great week,
    Gina

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  5. Both of your April teacups are so pretty, Ruth.
    You and your hubby have so much fun visiting interesting places. I have been to the Bellagio and saw the Chihully works there, and also the Dallas Arboretum had many works on display one year. They were spectacular.
    Thanks for hosting and best of luck in transferring all those pictures!

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  6. I love the sweet pea teacup....I can almost smell them.

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  7. What an informative post! It was interesting to learn how different companies can use the same designs on their china.

    I had visited Pompeii in 2007 and it felt very surreal! I'll have to try to catch the Pompei exhibit when it comes to the Royal Ontario Museum in June.

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  8. Hi Ruth, The rhododendron pictured is beautiful. Flowers that bloom in early spring are just extra special to us cold climate folks! I loved seeing the Pompeii exhibit. Fascinating! I have seen the Titanic and the SS Bertrand (another sunken ship) exhibits and they are interesting too. Your teacups and the history - lovely and educational and interesting. Great post, Ruth!
    I want to let you know I posted about my giveaway win in my latest post. Thank you again! I enjoyed a cup of the citrus green tea this morning.

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  9. Very pretty April Tea Cup; and so many other wonderful things you had to share with us.

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  10. Hi Ruth,
    I love both of the Flower of the Month Teacups! I have never seen the Queens one before. It is very dainty and pretty! I have started collecting the Royal Albert series but only have 3 of them. Hubby and I must visit the Pacific Centre and Pompeii Museum. It's not too far for us to go. I would love to go to the Collections Cafe. The accordians on the ceiling are so cool! Your hubby looks so pleased with the treats. Happy Tea Day! Karen

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  11. The April tea cup is pretty Ruth, well of course every month is, isn't it? The Pompeii exhibit would have been of interest to me and I enjoyed seeing your photos.
    Thanks for linking to Mosaic Monday.

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  12. Seattle is such a fun city! I was just there for a tea and GS event (linked up). Wish I would have run into you! :-)

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  13. Love everything, the Royal Albert teacup, the Pompeii display looks amazing and so interesting but my favourite would have to be where you ate with all those lovely vintage treasures in the tables.....love peoples ideas. Thank you for sharing...HPS Michelle

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  14. Lovely cups. Fun facts. I was lucky to travel from NJ to Seattle in 2012. I saw the Tutankhamen exhibit there. I would LOVE to see the Pompeii exhibit. The garden and glass exhibit is wonderful. Enjoyed it all. Sounds like a lovely day!

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  15. Oh my ,I have never seen any thing like the table before It kind of remind me of House on the rock in Wic.I was at pompeil a few years ago,It is amazing
    Your post is so interesting
    HPS Laura

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  16. Wow, this one is sensory overload! I love your explanations about the similar teacups. I know I've got a few pieces that have the exact same design but by different makers, and this helps explain why. Love the Chihuly photos -- some of his works are at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and I got to visit that years ago. An amazing artist who has definitely added beauty to the world!

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Thanks for visiting and we love to hear from you! We read every comment. If my husband's health permits, I love to visit andreply. Have a wonderful day and a cuppa tea always at hand! :)

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