Archive for October, 2010

Staffordshire salt glaze teapot, c.1850

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

A squat one cup bachelor’s teapot with raised Gothic Revival decoration on a pale blue paneled body, often mistaken for a piece from a child’s tea set. This salt glazed pottery teapot was made in the Staffordshire region of England in the mid 1800’s

Teapot stands 3-1/4″ tall and has the same scrolled decoration on each panel

When the original lid became lost or broken, a metalsmith made a simple replacement metal lid of tin with a delicately turned pewter knob

Oil lamp with pyramid base, c.1920

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

The person who repaired this 7″ tall EAPG (Early American Pattern Glass) oil lamp in the “Sawtooth” pattern threw caution to the wind and developed their own whimsical pyramid base, which bares no resemblance at all to the original glass base

This joint is where the lamp attaches to the painted base, showing “alligator” finish red line detailing

The overscaled base measures 7″ square

The remains of the heavily sawtoothed stem are visible from the underside of the base

This identical lamp, fully intact, reveals how much is actually missing from my lamp

Photo courtesy of iOffer

“Beehive” pattern waste bowl, c.1820

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

This English-made soft paste pottery waste bowl was originally part of a larger tea set. Waste bowls, aka slop bowls, were used for pouring out the remaining cold tea before pouring another cup of tea. It has a cobalt blue & white transfer decoration of a bee skep in a bucolic pastoral setting

The many cracks on the sides have been stabilized by the careful addition of small ridged metal staples, which appear to be machine made

A single bent metal staple affixed to the underside acts as a crutch and ingeniously supports the broken base

Bowl measures 2-1/2″ high with a dimeter of 4-1/8″