It’s a bit Fishy

Detail of yellow and mauve Aquarius fish plate | H is for Home

Last week, we featured a wonderful set of vintage bull plates – this week we have some equally fantastic fish plates!

Stacked set of vintage Aquarius fish plates | H is for Home

We bought five of the set in a single purchase and then managed to track down the missing plate in the following days.

Full set of vintage Aquarius fish plates | H is for Home

It’s now a fabulous and complete set of six.

Collection of vintage Aquarius fish plates | H is for Home

They’re highly stylised with beautiful detailing – dancing air bubbles, fluttering scales and swirling fins. We certainly haven’t seen anything similar in the local rivers or canals!

Back stamp on a vintage Aquarius fish plate | H is for Home

They’re from the Aquarius range produced by Washington Pottery in the 1960s. In 1970, Washington Pottery became English Ironstone Pottery Ltd. Three years later, it became English Ironstone Tableware Ltd, so you can trace the age of an item from its back stamp.

Detail from a purple & orange Aquarius fish plate | H is for Home

As with the bull plates, these colourful fish plates would look amazing displayed on a long shelf or mounted on a wall. Both types are listed in our web shop.

Forthcoming Attractions: Mid-September 2015

'Forthcoming Attractions' blog post banner

Selection of vintage collectables heading to the H is for Home shop - September 2015

Here’s a selection of recent vintage buys heading shopwards.

set of vintage Beefeater steak plates

For starters, we have a classic bit of what is generally termed ‘vintage retro’ these days. These ‘Beefeater‘ steak plates scream 1960s/70s.

detail view of a vintage Beefeater steak plate

They were produced by English Ironstone Ltd in Staffordshire. Aren’t they fabulous? We’ve got some young bulls on nearby farmland – you won’t be surprised to hear that they’re not quite as colourful as these.

Vintage Easimix mixing bowl by T. G. Green with blue patterned vintage fabric

We’re staying in the same era with this fabric offcut.

Detail of blue patterned vintage fabric

Actually, the style is very similar – the same artist could have been responsible for both the plates and the textile!

Vintage Dumler Breiden 'fat lava' West German vase with wooden deer figure

This pair of items makes a nice little grouping – they would look perfect on a vintage, mid-century modern teak sideboard. We love the contrast of glazes on the vase – and the flash of orange of course. The stylised antelope is lovely. We come across similar wooden sculptures quite often, but this one stood out from the crowd. It’s particularly good quality in terms of material and skill of carving.

Yellow vintage fondue set

This fondue set is top quality for its type also – enamel pan with teak detailing, warmer and a set of six forks. It’s pretty much unused and a superb English mustard colour. Pop that on the sideboard too… ready for the retro dinner party.

Orange original vintage Anglepoise lamp

More vibrant colour with this vintage lamp – our favourite Anglepoise for some time. We love the stepped base, shape of the shade and bold red colourway.

Detailed view showing maker's mark on an orange original vintage Anglepoise lamp

It’s a Herbert Terry original and would look great gracing any desk or worktop.

Detailed view of a vintage Neiman Marcus poster celebrating Danish Fortnight

And finally, onto the poster that’s in the background of many of these photos. We’ve had it for a while, but it’s been rolled up in storage. We’ve just had it framed so we’re counting it as a new item! It’s a vintage poster advertising Danish Fortnight at the department store Neiman-Marcus in Dallas. The poster is gorgeous – and you can guarantee that most of those 1960s Danish homewares on sale were gorgeous too!