So, What do you think?

The serving plate, above, is a beautiful china plate surrounded by a decorative chrome frame. The back says that it is called UMBERTONE made for Farberware by LEIGH potters, inc. U.S.A. It is a pretty pattern that was made in the 1930's and I found it online priced anywhere from $20. to $60.( some online antique stores are ripping folks off). I got it for $4.50. Good deal? Yep! It has a crack in the plate but the metal rim will always hold the plate together and the crack is only hairline so I don't think it will ever fall apart.
Interesting detail: The word Umbertone is spelled UN~bertone on the back of the plate. When I Googled the word I was directed to the right spelling. Could this be like a coin that has a flaw in it or a reversed letter/number. Could this make it more valuable? Does anyone know about these things?

The cookie jar without a lid is an example of finding things that have a memory attached to them. I remember my grandma having a jar like this. It's off-white background, the leaf handles and the little bugs all remind me of one, many years ago, on a shelf in the kitchen at my grandma's house. Wish there was a lid but, oh well, I bought it for $5.00 and will use it for a planter anyway. The mark on the bottom says TRANSOR WARE~Japan. I love the colors and the design. The small yellow Mums look lovely in it.
The cute little yellow hankie with turquoise and pink trim was $1.00 and it's just such a bright, sunny piece of happiness on a cold winter day. It just kind of went with the smile sign over my desk. The bear didn't mind holding it for the photo shoot at all.

This little piece of lace was actually two pieces. My sister and I split this sweet little "find". I'm not sure what I will do with it but it's so pretty and I'm sure I will figure out something. The two pieces were sold together for $4.00, so my half was a couple of bucks. That's a deal.
The little bear thinks that it's beautiful too. I draped it like a collar.., then kind of like a skirt. When I took the last shot( in the lower right corner) she had decided that she liked it best as a hat.
What fun this weekend was. What wonderful fun and time spent. I enjoyed my hunt for that "special" find. It's kind of like Geocaching, only the rainy day version and you get to bring it ALL home with you. Not a bad 3 days worth for $12.50..., plus lunch.

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A big change of subject here...,
I saw rescue workers pull a small child out of the rubble in Haiti this morning on the news.
If someone asks you why we are making such a big effort to help these people down there.., please tell them it's because we need to.., because we can.., and because of that little girl.., and others who are still alive, underneath the rubble. It's all about being a part of HUMANITY. How could we not help?

Beautiful Chocolate Pot Set for PDT.

It's Past Due Tuesday and I have something to show you that is so beautiful. This was my Grandmother's Chocolate Set. I have researched this all morning and I found a lot of information that was mixed into a confusion of Japanese/Nippon/Chinese multi designed and shaped sets from many different decades of porcelain china that was imported here and sold. The only consistency was the shape of the teapot. I found 3 or 4 sets that were totally different in the design of the hand painting, but the shape of the pot was identical in all of them. The biggest mystery of this set is the mark. I found all kinds of information on marks and went through pages of different kinds of marks that identify these varied pieces of porcelain. I never found the mark that is on the bottom of all the pieces in this set.

This is a Japanese porcelain, hand painted set with a water, sailboat and nature design. This is a complete set (minus one cup) and all the pieces have a matching pattern along the saucer and cup edges and also on the chocolate pot and lid. The border is hand decorated with a gold leaf scrolling design. The lid has a cutout with a small piece that is missing. All the descriptions say that the cutout is for stirring the cocoa and that this distinguishing feature differentiates it from a coffee or tea pot. Without the cutout it's not a cocoa pot. The lid has a "cartouche" handle and the pot has a fancy applied handle. The cups have applied elongated loop handles. The saucers are scallop edged, 4 3/4" diameter and the delicate cups are ribbed with tapered cylindrical, scalloped edges at top and bottom, 3" tall. The set consists of the tall chocolate pot, 5 cups and 6 saucers.

I wonder if my grandma used this set when she had company or, like myself, kept it in a glass case somewhere and didn't use it because she was afraid it would be broken. I would love to know how she got it and if it's worth a lot of money. Until I find out more information about the set I will just dust it once in a while and admire it's beauty. Maybe I will set it out on my new/old buffet when I move the buffet into the living room. What do you think?

Don't forget to visit Roomies With A Past for other vintage or antique things that have found a venue for showing their beauty and uniqueness. Join us....

A Day Past Due Tuesday: Finding Things in an Old Box

This is a silk dress; wrinkled, fragile, thread bare in places with smocking and a scalloped hem.Sis and I found it in the very bottom of a box filled with letters and diaries. Inside this box were my grandmother's letters from her husband who was a traveling pianist in movie theaters..., letters that gave us some insight (and some questions) about our family. Interesting letters about a time when our grandmother was very young and life was written down in long letters and personal thoughts were put into small books and dated, written with pens that had to be continuously dipped into a container of ink, sometimes dripping onto the page when hands were shaking with emotion. Life spilled out..., hand written, onto pages of small books and journals. Letters and saved things that were important to someone, that meant so much to my grandmother, so long ago. Old photos, report cards, class pictures, advertisements, announcements and obituaries. Life and death, happiness and sadness...,

...,and then, in the very bottom of this old box, folded together.., a young girls dress. A lovely blue silk dress with hand painted flowers and a pink hat, a small hand made purse and a blue handkerchief. It was the only clothing in the old box. It must have been very special. I picture the late 20's. The "flapper" style dress; short, sleeveless..., the "cloche" hat. This was not a grown up dress. It's seems more for a young girl or pre-teenager. A dance dress perhaps. A very special dance. My Mother's? Her sisters? We will never know, for a certainty, who this lovely dress belonged to, but I suspect it was either my Mom's or my Aunt Marcia's because this was my grandmother's box of things.

We found a lot of my Aunt Marcia's letters and journals, school things, pictures she drew and wonderful childhood items that my grandmother had saved.
You see, my mom's sister was always getting sick as she grew up (they think, now, that she might have had Leukemia) and she died at Merritt Hospital in Oakland, CA. in 1937, when she was only 18 years old. My grandma never got over her death. I only remember one picture of my aunt, a large one in a beautiful frame, on her living room wall. She never talked about Marcia unless I asked her and then she didn't say very much.
Mom told me that her little sister was very beautiful, popular and talented. Mom said she had a sweet personality and liked everyone. She was 2 years younger than my mother.
I think that this little box was a place where Grandma put all the memories of her daughter and laid them to rest. I think the dress was Marcia's. Maybe it was made for a "first" dance.
I wish we had known her. I know how important my sister was and is to my boys. There can be such a wonderful connection to an aunt. It's like having a "back up" Mom when you're tired of the one you live with. Another opinion, another point of view and another place to lay your head.
It would have been nice to know my Aunt Marcia, in life, but now I know her a little better ...,because we found this old box of memories.

Please go to Roomies for more Past Due Tuesday posts about old things and stories that need to be told again.

Past Due Tuesday: Candlesticks and Re-purposed plate.

These candlesticks are probably from Italy. My great-grandmother was born in Milan and came here to marry my great-grandfather. I was told she brought a Dowry (which is the property that a woman brought to her husband at the time of the marriage) with her. These lovely candlesticks were far too fancy for life on the ranch. At the time, in the Napa Valley, there were only small farms and a beautiful little town. It was not the fancy, tourist mecca it is today. So, coming from a great northern Italian city and a wealthy family, I suspect that she brought some very nice things with her.
These candle holders are black glass, appear to be hand blown ( there are no "seams" anywhere.) and the design is etched into the glass. They're rimmed with gold which is very worn. There are no markings of any kind that would give us an idea where they came from. Mom never used them that we can remember and these were found in a cabinet above the refrigerator where other assorted candlesticks were stored..., most of them never having been used.

They are really beautiful; very "old world". I will do some research on the Internet and see if I can find some information on them.


This plate of my grandmothers is very interesting. Again, there are no markings. It's carve, beautifully, with rose buds and leaves and looks like it might have had a cup or vase attached to it. Also, there is a broken part that might have been a handle. The pottery is beautiful and almost transparent but I don't think it's porcelain. It's heavy for a small plate. The carved flowers and leaves are very well done.
I use it to burn my large candles on because of it's flat center. I love the way it looks. Does anyone have any ideas what it might be and what it's made of?


Please check out the other antique and vintage things that are "past due" for the attention they deserve at Roomies and add your own wonderful things.

Why I love the man I live with and other honest confessions

I only showed you a small part of something yesterday. You only saw the results of one beautiful piece of furniture, looking great, in it's new home. Many of you commented about my remarkable husband and how patient he was about all of this. Well, now you're going to think he's a "Saint" because now I will show you all the other things that he hauled home for me yesterday. It was a load. All the rest of my obsession/possessions are sitting in the garage ,now, saying...," OK lady. We're here and you are going to have to get rid of something in this house before we can be moved in. Get busy."
It wasn't just the bookcase/desk that he lugged back up to our little house. It was a buffet, a 9x12 Karastan Carpet, a painted bookcase, an old mirror, some vases and an antique wall clock. .., and the blue and white vase that is going to my good friend, C, in Sacramento.
The car has lost it's covered parking place for a while.
Look at these things. Would you have left them for the Goodwill guys to pick up? I rest my case.
And..., just guess what this is. It's the top part of the buffet. I have had it for years. I was refinishing it to reattach it (someday) to it's beautiful buffet that Mom was going to give me..., SOMEDAY. Well, someday has arrived and do I have this top finished and ready to reattach to the bottom part? No. Do I have some work ahead of me? Is our cat, Annibel, sleeping on the new rug..., that she thinks we put on the garage floor for her? Is there room in the house for any of this? Agggggg....
And..., to make matters worse, I have another unfinished piece of business sitting in the corner of the garage. ( I'm showing you a lot of dirty little secrets today. I think I'm heading for a huge reality check). Bought this two years ago, sanded it and there it sits, gathering dust, surrounded by more projects and tripping me every time I walk through the back door of the garage.
I confess..., I'm not the perfect housekeeper, gardener, guru of living in the country that my Blog makes me out to be. I procrastinate. I'm awful about finishing projects and ...., I'm human.

There. I said it. Now, what am I going to do about all this?..., I'm not sure. I need some serious help. I guess the Prospector knew that I would come to this realization all by myself. He didn't have to say anything. I think I'll keep him around for another 40 years.

Now.., excuse me while I go have a small breakdown.

Vintage Thursday: More Lovely Memories

This little silver cup (with most of the silver gone) was my grandfather's. His name was Ludwig Lytjen. I suspect it was a baby cup, although it could also have been a shaving mug. It was a very fancy little cup, no matter what it was used for, and has his initials L.L. engraved on the side. He was born in Denmark and died in Berkeley, CA. ( in 1922, at the age of 30) when my mom was 5 years old.

This small cut crystal pitcher was my grandmothers. Mom didn't use it too much unless we had a very big fancy dinner, like Christmas, and then she would bring it out for cream, with our coffee, after the big meal..., and always a delicious dessert. Later, when Mom got too old to fix the big amazing dinners, I remember it being used for small bunches of fresh flowers, and dried roses. These roses are dried "double delight" rose buds that I brought her (from my garden)a few years ago.

As far back as I can remember Mom wore these bracelets. They were the beautiful "dress up and have a party" ones..., the "lets go to the Opera" ones. Lucite and rhinestones..., beautiful memories.

Thank you Colorado Lady for hosting Vintage Thingie Thursdays. I have enjoyed showing everyone Mom's beautiful memories.