English silver lustre glazed pottery teapot with faceted, beaded & gadrooned body, stands 5.75 inches high and is 9.5 inches long.
One of the most common inventive repairs is a teapot spout replacement tip or shield. This repair was made by wrapping a single triangular shaped piece of tin and soldiering in place.
Another view of the teapot with its replaced spout tip.
An almost exact example is shown with a more elaborate eagle’s head handle.
Photo courtesy of Cathcart’s Antiques
American brown glazed stoneware bean pot with lid, measures 5-1/2″ high and is 8-1/2″ wide from handle to handle.
A mismatched lid from another piece has been “married” to this pot.
The lid has an incised number “2” on the top right edge.
This was most likely made in Ohio or Pennsylvania in the late 1800’s.
When the single applied stoneware handle broke off, twin metal handles and straps were attached to “improve” upon the original design. The small, lightweight handles are out scale with the heavy pot and have become misshapen from use.
A metal support strap around the top has a bolt and nut to insure a tight fit.
This pot still has its original single handle.
Photo courtesy of Cyber Attic
Spending my teenage years in a small town in the Berkshires meant frequent excursions to nearby Pittsfield, MA, home of three faded movie theaters, a large library and a Mexican restaurant. Once I remember seeing a “Pittsfield Elm” plate for sale in my parent’s antiques shop and feeling a sense of pride that a local tree was immortalized on a plate. This treasured pottery plate was made by James & Ralph Clews at Cobridge Works, Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, UK. They were made between 1818 and 1834 as a part of a highly collected line of Historical Blue Staffordshire pottery.
It has been held tightly together for over one hundred years with 5 flattened copper rivets, and measures 8-3/4″ in diameter.
This English pottery plate with deep cobalt blue transfer decoration is marked on the back WINTER VIEW OF PITTSFIELD MASS, CLEWS as well as impressed CLEWS WARRANTED STAFFORDSHIRE surrounding a crown.
The beloved “Old Elm” in Park Square, as seen in a 1855 engraving, was sadly cut down in 1861.
Photo courtesy of Image Museum
Almost every home in America had a version of a molded glass hen on a nest covered dish. But most homes did not have this clever “make-do” pin cushion, made from just a broken lid. I assume the intact bottom half was reused as a dish, but the top half remains were encased in fabric and cotton batting, crocheted with red “feathers” around the neck and transformed in to a practical pin cushion.
Pin cushion hen measures 4-1/4″ high.
The mother hen pin cushion began life looking something like this.
Photo courtesy of Cornerstone Collectibles
Black glazed pottery “one cup” (aka “Bachelor’s”) teapot from England with scroll relief decoration, stands 3-1/2″ high and was made in the early 1800s.
A simple tin replacement handle was most likely made by a traveling tinsmith in the 1800s.
The intact handle on an identical teapot to mine shows what the original handle looked like.
Photo courtesy of Alexandra Antiques
A Large English paneled body pottery jug, made in North Staffordshire, England in the early nineteenth century. The Mason family of potters traded under various styles at Lane Delph and Fenton from 1800-54. Charles James Mason patented the famous “PATENT IRONSTONE CHINA” in 1813. Jug measures 8″ high.
The bottom is stamped in cobalt blue “Fenton Stoneworks, no.306”, which dates this piece to 1825-40.
When the original handle broke off over one hundred years ago, a gracefully carved wood replacement handle was bolted on.
Missing chips were filled and carefully painted over to match floral design.
Chinese porcelain cream jug with cover was made for export and measures 5″ high.
A skillful artist painted the floral decoration with polychrome enamels in the famille rose palette.
The original porcelain handle was replaced over 100 years ago with a woven rattan covered metal handle.
This jug shows what the simple-shaped porcelain handle would have looked like on my jug before it was repaired.
Photo courtesy of Cleij Oriental Art
A free blown clear glass whale oil lamp, made in America in the early 1800’s, measures 7-1/2″ high.
As lamps were used daily, it is not unusual to see examples with replacement bases, such as this simple one made of wood.
This similar oil lamp still has its original elaborately molded base.
Photo courtesy of Comollo Antiques
English commemorative pearlware pottery jug from 1840, with transfer decoration portrait of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Jug measures 7″ high and has a royal blue background with hand painted pink lustre and gilt floral ornamentation
A tin handle with thumb grip and strap replaces the original ornate handle, shown here with remaining sharp fragment at the bottom.
The tin strap conceals the royal couple’s identity.
Intact example showing the unmasked couple and original, more elaborate handle
Photo courtesy of Knotty Pine Antiques
Heavy porcelain Chinese export mug with flared base made during the Quinlong Period (1736-95) measures 6-1/2″ high. It has an intricately painted courtyard scene in the Mandarin palette with polychrome enamel decoration, including a diaperwork background with gilt highlights.
An unusual replacement handle was made from an early bronze ruler. I have many replacement handles made of bronze in my collection and did not realize this particular one was formerly a ruler until I got it home and studied it more closely.
This strikingly similar mug with original porcelain handle shows what the handle might have looked like on my mug before it was replaced.
Photo courtesy of Burchard Galleries