As some of you know I am a bit mad for British ceramic art...
I've collected Torquay pottery since I got my first piece in England on my 18th birthday...
and the collection has been growing since...
And while it's the people I have met and befriended through collecting that I treasure far beyond the pottery -- I love to share peek at the pots in the hope of sharing my enthusiasm
for this wonderful antique folk art.
the pottery is being looked at as what's hot in collecting vintage...
Mini Madness
Anything that can be held in the palm of the hand has a certain playful, toy-like charm. My madness for small things and minis began a long time ago. I was the little girl that lovingly decorated the dollhouse made for me by my Dad, dreaming that one day, I would have my own home to decorate. I loved tiny things…and still do.
Conversely, I love the HUGE grand LARGE pieces of my collection, but as the shelves fill — even as I move and play and re-do arrangements in cabinets — I can never say there is not room for one more mini. Indeed I have had a tough time passing up any I have had the chance to buy. They are a wonderful, tuck-in size and I love them for being small, affordable and utterly adorable!
What’s also fun is that they get me to look at patterns and shapes I would not otherwise pursue. You can see among these photos a variety of patterns not elsewhere in my collection…
You can see in the one image with the penny and pence…there are minis … and then, there are minis….
That one itty bitty plate measures less than 2” across, while the plate from a child’s tea set is about 4”. Generally in height I look for something less than 2” so that the pieces hold together in scale… And if I have the shape, no matter, I might not have the motto. The mottos on the minis are those short and sweet adages that speak with such common observation. With little space on the surface to decorate, the quips and mottoes are direct and often the ones cited most within our vernacular.
I have also included an image of the mini-minis I was able to purchase from Torbay about 12 years ago.
They are a display within a display filling a tiny doll house sized hutch within another hutch…these are all less than 1” in height. (Look at the dresser tray peeking out from behind the display for scale)
As a toy collector as well, they seem to blend in well with my other displays. The tea sets make great companions to some folk art monkeys sitting in a child’s hutch in the guest room along with a fave Pat Murphy bear...
And I owe a big thanks to Kathy Collins for the find of my new wall hanging “mini shelf”. We found it in a booth at Brimfield and it wasn’t until I got it home that I realized how perfect it was to host them all!
I am grateful that she encouraged me to buy it and lug it through the fields back to the truck. Well worth it! I had had the minis among some different cabinets before, and now have my faves in one place
(excluding my all time fave, my wee moulded cottage — I would cheerfully live there!!!)
...more on this pottery in future posts...
stay tuned
xo Jen
