Mile marker 90.

Please indulge me while I type up this tribute to a favorite vintage person who also happens to be very modern…

She is someone who defines optimism as “…an 80+ year old woman who renews her passport.” (And uses it!)

She’s on Facebook. She’s an email pro and has been for years. 

She knows what in the world airbnb* is and finds it pretty interesting. 

She takes selfies!

Selfie taken while dining on roasted duck & fig crepes from "Planet of the Crepes" food cart

She has a resume that contains the following titles: Award-winning Author, Gourmet Chef, Restaurant Review Writer, Business Owner, and Hotel Social Director.  (There are more. This is just the highlight reel. )

Former Social Director at the beautiful Broadmoor Hotel

She found her great love at age 80 and married him.

She is a tireless cheerleader for reconnecting far-flung family members.

She induces anxiety by asking this visiting short order cook to prepare dinner for her. (See previous reference to “Gourmet Chef” and “Restaurant Review Writer.”  Sheer terror, I tell you.)

Celebrating something or another 

She reduces anxiety by introducing visiting short order cooks to Prosecco, Limoncello, and Bellinis.

She shares a rare genetic disorder with yours truly that involves the acquisition of pretty vintage dishes. So many dishes. We can’t be stopped but probably should be.

She appreciates beauty all around her, especially in her home and her garden. 

She dresses so stylishly that someone needs to put her on the pages of Vogue.

She reads my blog, refers to me as a writer and encourages and supports all of my endeavors.

All of this (and much, much more) describes my Auntie Phyllis, who turns 90 today.

I would love and appreciate it so much if you would please wish her a “Happy Birthday” in the comments below.  Thank you.  ♥

Photo borrowed from her Facebook page 

Ninety!  Love you, Auntie!  xo

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*airbnb.com

The vintage Pyrex casserole-with-see-through-stand-and-warming-basket-in-mint-condition-shaped hole in my head.

For someone who rides the junkin’ rails on a nearly daily basis, I completely managed to miss the train to Pyrexville.  

I realize many of you Pyrex People have been bringing home mixing bowls and refrigerator sets for eons but for those of us just waking up to the Pyrex experience (HelloMyNameIsAmy), I feel as though in the last year or so, there has been a sudden EXPLOSION of Pyrex collecting, hoarding, sharing and selling.

Or does everyone feel like that when they're the last one to catch on?

Gina has vintage Pyrex junk in her trunk.

Melissa sells her Pyrex finds on eBay.

Then there are the Two (Pyrex Crazy) Thrifting Sisters. A google image search of them is Pyrex-crazy indeed!

Click the photo to go to Pyrex Collective I

And there’s not just one or even two Pyrex Collectives – there are three of them! With links to even more Pyrex-loving types pyrexing their hearts out.

Click the photo to go to Pyrex Collective II

and you guessed it, click the photo to go to Pyrex Collective III

And me?

I’ve taken one lonely photo of other people’s Pyrex, because I liked the display, not because I have a clue about anything Pyrex.

On Instagram, this is my #1 hearted photo -- it outhearted any Vintage Christmas photo I’ve posted so far -- who knew?! I mean, you probably knew but I DID NOT KNOW. About the w i d e s p r e a d love of Pyrex.

In an effort to signal my late entry into the Great Pyrex Awareness of the 21^st Century, I’ve started a Pyrex (and more) collection of my own, safely contained on a Pinterest board where it won’t take up space at home, be washed in a dishwasher or get chipped or broken.

Pyrex poster is from etsy shop Pocono Modern 

Live and learn.  SO much to learn.  Now hoping to find a Pyrex for Beginners support group.

I need to know.

Before I get started here let me just say that this much I already know:  I am a vintage dish junkie and therefore have NO BUSINESS whatsoever prowling around the dish aisle of a Goodwill thrift store BUT once I’m in the store I feel it’s my moral obligation to check out every. single. aisle. including the one with the lame used sporting goods (deflated soccer ball or random golf clubs anyone?) and so there I was.  

Doing my civic duty in the dish aisle. In the name of junking. Which sounds an awful lot like junkie.

For the most part I kept my hands to myself but while eavesdropping on two people discussing Pyrex (free continuing ed class over in housewares!)  I spied some pretty little plates and here comes a(nother) confession:  I have become THAT PERSON. The one who whips out her phone in Goodwill to google the item in her hand before making a potentially heinous mistake involving fours of dollars by taking a pass on something that maybe she should have bought but didn’t.  Because of the fours of dollars involved.

And now I’m also that person who refers to herself in the third person.

And it was just four dollars.

I really don’t know how to explain that part of the equation. It’s not like they cost forty dollars because then PROBLEM SOLVED.

The tipping point. 

Back to the dishes. The magical, pretty dishes that had many interesting things happening. A nautical theme. Not one but two marks on the back (mad googling begins here!) and those marks involved the words ENGLAND and FAMOUS ARTISTS. Surely those are good signs. And the crazing. I love crazing. And they were pretty. And I’d never seen them before. And they were pretty.

Oh that crazing...

Hands over four dollars.

Despite my frenzied googling at the store and later again when my dishes and I got home, I still couldn’t determine specifically who the “famous artists” were and somehow not knowing disturbs me.  If I were putting the works of “famous artists” on my merchandise (and adding a second china mark specifically explaining that they were made by “famous artists”), I would say in BIG HUGE LETTERS who the “famous artists” are.

A painting by a "famous artist." 

And now I feel as though the internet is keeping secrets from me. Because everything about everything is on the internet by now, isn’t it?

I will keep looking.

Jadeite enthusiasts, please stand up.

And step forward.

I need your help, please.

The other day, while shopping for two hours (!) in a Goodwill store, the majority of that time spent having a miniature heart attack in the dish aisle, which, as we know, I have no business being in let alone loading a shopping cart full of all kinds of heart-attack-inducing dinnerware, I now have a question:

How do I tell if these plates are vintage Jadeite (or not)? They have no particular pattern and no identifying marks at all. 

That worries me.

Should I be worried?

A pretty pair of Blue Ridge Pottery plates

Another Goodwill shopper seemed to think they’re vintage and I base that solely on her reaction when she saw them in my cart and asked, “Do you know that those plates are collectible?!”

My outside voice: “Yes, I do.”

My inside voice: “Yes, I do. They’re in my cart. Stop touching them.”

The latest additions to my personal mix-&-match collection of (indestructible) vintage Japanese stoneware

She also asked me, “Do you know what they’re worth?!” (nicely, but in the do-you-have-any-idea-what-you-have-there-because-if-you-don’t-I’ll-take-them-off-your-hands-for-you way)  

Outside voice, not wanting to disappoint:  “I think so.”

Inside voice:  “No clue. Just hoping it’s more than the $2 Goodwill wants for them.”

Resale score! Bunches of Haviland Limoges

We smiled and agreed it was a very good day at Goodwill.

Inside voice: “Yes, it is.”

(Thank you for your help with my question.)

Three Lots for Three Bucks

Price: $0

This bunch of dishes was in the free box outside the door of my local Senior Center Thrift Shop.

They were free in the financial sense but there was a price of another sort waiting in the box.

All of the dishes were stuck together in a big, gooey glob by what I think/hope was chocolate syrup.

At least that’s what I’m telling myself it was.

Free.  Focus on the Free.

Price: $1

I would have gladly paid twice that because when it comes to vintage Christmas,  I. Am. Weak.

Price: $2

I didn’t even look through this mountain of sewing patterns found at a yard sale – for $2, all of them went straight into the car with plans to use the tissue pattern pieces for wrapping any breakables sold at my next vintage event.

Until I started unpacking the box when I got home.

Some of these patterns are charming.

And some of them are horrifying.

But they all represent one woman’s lifetime of sewing:  For her younger self, her married self, her young daughters, teenage daughters and eventually, her granddaughters.

So much for my wrapping paper plans…

~~*~~*~~*~~

Wishing you a wonderful 4th of July!

I swear, it followed me home

Can I keep it?

It gets along great with my Dollar Store plates.

 And it's very quiet.

This was the best (and scariest) part.

(After unpacking, I was very happy to discover only 2 pieces were chipped and from the appearance of the chips, they happened before these pieces were tossed together to become a ‘boxed set.’)

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!



A public service announcement

We (and by 'we', I mean 'I') interrupt this vintage Christmas post with an important announcement.

It has been reported there is another severe outbreak of vintage dish-itis.

Please, do not panic.

While there is no known cure for this condition, the prognosis can remain favorable by following these simple instructions:

1.  Locate any vintage dishes you have that resemble the one pictured here.

2.  Carefully pack, insure and ship them to me immediately.

I will place all dishes in quarantine for as long as necessary.

Remember, I am a professional so do not try this in your own home.

The quarantine process may take months, if not years, so please feel confident that these dishes will be well cared for.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled vintage Christmas programming.

The pitter-platter of vintage dishes

I've been dabbling in some of my first vintage treasure hunting of the new year, trying to stay focused on buying only things I plan to resell in my etsy shop.

You know how that goes.

It's especially difficult for me because I have an untreated condition that flares up without warning.

I have a serious case of Vintage-Dish-itis.

That's right. My name is Amy and I'm hooked on dishes.

I found this platter at an estate sale on Saturday.

On the left, Vernon Kilns 'Dolores' and on the right, Spode 'Wicker Dale'

It's in perfect condition and was only a dollar on half-price day. That's my Grandmother's china on the right -- two completely different patterns but I love how they look together.

Johnson Bros. / England

This gently worn platter was also only a dollar and it came from the same estate sale. I was completely prepared to sell it on etsy but then those cupcakes appeared. Fortunately they won't be here long. 

I give them until dinnertime. Then I can re-evaluate the situation.

Pyrex.

I think I can part with this one because it doesn't go with any of the dishes I already have although it definitely works with several of the vintage tablecloths around here. Maybe I can start a new collection with it! Also found at the estate sale.

 

Alfred Meakin / England

 And lastly, this pink rose platter which is covered with crazing. Fifty cents.

I like a little crazing.