Five Flea Finds

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Collection of items picked up at Todmorden fleamarket

This week was a very one successful at our local flea market… with 5 really good vintage finds for our online  shop.

vintage Festival of Britain catalogue picked up at Todmorden fleamarket

First is this original catalogue from the Festival of Britain held in 1951. We’ve really enjoyed browsing through this booklet. In addition the run down of the exhibition itself, there are some fantastic period ads.

vintage chocolate brown enamel Finel kettle picked up at Todmorden fleamarket

Next up is this enamel teapot made by Finel. It was covered in dust and badly tea stained inside, but it’s come up beautifully – a good wash revealed the lovely pattern and the inside bleached clean & white.

vintage Bavaria West German porcelain coffee pot picked up at Todmorden fleamarket

This 1960s coffee pot couldn’t fail to catch our eye. We’ve actually had a set in this pattern before – what a great design with its simple, stylised flowers.

vintage handpainted Arabia sunflower plate picked up at Todmorden fleamarket

This plate was at the bottom of a pile. We could just see the petal edges poking out. We’re glad we made the effort to dig down a bit! It’s a lovely vintage hand-painted sunflower plate produced by Arabia of Finland.

set of 6 vintage Ridgway "Amanda" trios picked up at Todmorden fleamarket

Finally, we have this tea trio – a set of six trios to be precise. It’s the Amanda pattern produced by Ridgway in the 1960s/70s – bright, cheerful and very usable.

All worth getting up early for!

In addition to the five finds destined for our shop, you may also have noticed some wine glasses in the background of the group photo. We were down to our last couple of decent wine glasses (and we do love a glass or two of red wine in front of the fire!). We’ve been looking for new ones for a few weeks now and were determined to pick some up in a charity shop or flea market. There they were – lovely wine glasses – large bowls, long slim stems, nice quality – £2.50 for a set of 8!! Now that was a great buy!

Flower power

Collection of vintage enamelware with flower decoration

Following on from our recent themes of fish & birds we continue to look at the influence of nature on artists & designers. This week it’s the turn of flowers.

detail from a vintage chopping boarddetail from a vintage chopping board

floral fabric detail floral fabric detail
vintage fabrics – pillowcases, curtains, tablecloths etc.

floral fabric detail

Initially we were going to combine fruit, flowers & foliage but felt that they each deserved their own space. We’ll return to the other two soon enough.

vintage pottery bowl with floral decoration Vintage Figgjo Flint egg cup

Wining & dining – everything gets given the floral treatment…

Trio of plates with floral decoration

Mismatched plates look great together.

Vintage soup tureen with floral decoration vintage milk jug with floral decoration

Cups, saucers, bowls, jugs, tureens, egg cups, tea pots, coffee pots etc…

vintage Denby Arabesque design tea pot

Again, we’re using items from our vintage collection predominantly from the 1950s, 60s & 70s. We particularly like the stylised treatment given to flowers during this period. You’re not likely to see any of these flowers in your florists, gardens or hedgerows!

trio of vintage Hornsea pottery with floral decorationsmall vintage Hornsea pots

floral decorated lidded pot Small vintage china pot with floral decoration

Vintage ice bucket with floral decoration

Interpretations range from the elaborate – almost psychedelic – to the paired down & simple.

green vintage pottery pin dish Vintage pottery pin dish

Vintage pottery egg cup

1960s/70s floral coaster Vintage pottery hors d'ouvres dish

We love the way that artists & designers play with scale & perspective.

Detail from a vintage pottery plate

Vintage Meakin cup & saucer Vintage Meakin cup & saucer

Some designs became almost geometric…

Vintage Elizabethan cup & saucer

…others were more traditional representations.

The very nature of flowers means that colour is a given and their combinations are limitless. They add a real vibrancy to everyday objects!

vintage painted tin tray

We have loads more gorgeous examples so we may have to do a ‘part II’ some day! We hope you’ve enjoyed the ones we’ve chosen to share.