Charity Vintage: Viners cutlery storage table

We’ve not come across one of these before. A cutlery canteen, cum coffee table, cum cutlery storage. It looks to have been made or commissioned by Viners of Sheffield in the 1950s.

The table is for sale by & in support of British Heart Foundation* in Motherwell. It has lovely mid century modern styling… and you get what looks like a load of highly collectable vintage Viners Chelsea cutlery thrown in as a bonus! We did a little research and found that the last one similar to this sold for £95 – this one’s starting bid is £49.99.

*British Heart Foundation is the nation’s heart charity. They help save lives with information, patient care and pioneering research. With your support, they’re beating heart disease for good.

Egg-squisite!

We picked up this gorgeous little egg cup & saucer this week. It only cost a pound, but it’s one of those little items that we’re going to treasure. We’ve mentioned previously how much we love this type country slipware pottery.

We did a bit of research into the maker and it turns out that it’s by Terrybaun Pottery – one of the oldest, if not the oldest, craft potteries in Ireland. It was established by Madeleine & Grattan Freyer in the late 1940s. Our egg cup looks like it might be one of their quite early slipware pieces.

Below are just a few examples of the slipware & scaffito pieces they produced in the 1950s/60s – the pictures are taken from the Irish Arts Review’s online archive – stunning!!

The couple’s nephew, master potter Henri Hedou, alongside his wife Fiona, carries on the tradition – taking over the running of the Co. Mayo pottery in 1983.

Forthcoming Attractions: mid August 2011

It’s a while since we did one of our Forthcoming Attractions posts – it features items that we’ve picked up in the previous week that were in the process of photographing & cataloging – items that will hit our website in the very near future.

Some nice bright pottery to start – the slender jug or bud vase is from the Saga range by Figgjo Flint – the cheery floral jug was produced by Sadler in the 1960s.

We love this vintage 1950s lemonade/water jug – very ‘Festival of Britain’.

The Viners Splayds come in their original packaging – perfect for garden parties & barbecues. And not one, but two Welsh Wool purses bought off the same stall – their colours & patterns are so distinctive.

It all sits on a beech coloured table – it’s part of a picnic/camping set with which comes with 4 canvas stools – and which all folds up to form the carry case. Ideal for the car boot or camper van!

V is for… Viners

Viners is renowned for its high quality stainless steel products.

The company was founded in 1901 by Adolf Viener.

Sheffield is the home of British steel manufacturing and Viners grew into the biggest cutlery factory in the city.

Ruben Viner, one of the founder’s sons, became the firm’s driving force, and it really prospered in the 1960s.

This period saw our favourite range of products with wonderful shapes & textures – by designers such as Gerald Benney and Stuart Devlin. Even the packaging looked great!!

Their cutlery ranges from this era such as Mosaic, Shape and Sable are now much sought after.

_Mosaic

_Shape

_Sable

The stainless steel was sometimes combined with woods such as rosewood and teak…

…as in this fabulous ice bucket…

…or these Polynesian teaspoons.

The company invested in a modern factory in Sheffield with subsidiaries in Ireland, France and Australia. Unfortunately, this major investment was to be the firm’s undoing. Crippling loan repayments at a time of stiff competition from cheaper, Far Eastern imports saw the family-run business close in 1982.

The brand is now owned by US-based Oneida, the world’s largest cutlery company.

There are some great vintage pieces out there – have a look at H is for Home’s current vintage Viners items for sale.

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: Viners

Charity Vintage: Viners cutlery storage table

Egg-squisite!

Forthcoming Attractions: mid August 2011

V is for… Viners