Vintage Thursday: Prized posessions

Cleaning out my mother's house was, sometimes, overwhelming. I couldn't let go of those things that I remembered in our home; things that went back to my childhood and were wrapped inside all of the cupboards and corners of my memory.
The flow blue platter and the gravy boat were used for special dinners for as long as I can remember and, because they are so old, I suspect they might have been my grandma's as well.
I spent the morning researching Flow Blue on the Internet and I'm more confused than enlightened. I did learn that if it says England on the back or Bottom of a piece (which these do) that they were made after the 1900's. It had to do with U.S. tax laws on imported goods starting in the 1890's. This pattern is called "Lorne" and has a shamrock design.

The large serving plate, with the charming 1910-1920's design, is hand painted. The mark on the underside says "hand painted" and "Nippon" with an "M" in the middle of a circle of olive branches (I'm guessing on the leaf).
"Nippon," simply means "Japan." Nippon china was produced for export to the United States beginning in 1865, when the country ended its long period of commercial isolation, and ending in 1921, when the United States enforced the McKinley Tariff act which prohibited the import of items which were not "plainly marked, stamped, branded or labeled in legible English words. As Nippon was considered the Japanese word for the country of origin, "Japan" being the English equivalent, the period of the Nippon china mark came to an end.
The big (and it is huge) heavy teapot is not something I remember Mom using. We found it way back in a cupboard over the refrigerator. It's a wonderful teapot that would keep tea hot for hours. The mark on the underside is so blurred that I'm still trying to figure it out. It does have what appears to be an AP in the middle of the stamp. The two letters are capitalized and joined together. I think this pot is just charming. The design seems to be pottery glazed and fired. The gold is very worn.
The small crystal container with a very worn silver lid was my grandmothers. I remember it on her dresser.

This is the only piece of furniture I was able to fit into my Toyota. I was waiting for a highway patrolman to stop me all the way home because I couldn't see out the back window with all the stuff that was piled up behind the back seat. This table was on top of everything and I swore I wouldn't leave without it. This was always in my mother's bedroom window. I don't know much about it yet but I will research the style when I have more time. I just love it.
There is an old oak buffet and an oak, glass doored, bookcase desk that are still in the house waiting for me to figure out how I'm going to get them up here and then ...., where I'm going to put them. Something is going to have to leave my house in order to accommodate these beautiful pieces. This is so hard. I NEED A BIGGER HOUSE!!

Please check out all of the posts listed for Vintage Thingies Thursday at Colorado Lady's Blog. There are always lots of great vintage items and interesting stories.