From Victorian Tureens to Ruby Glass: Recent Finds at Katie’s Vintage Corner
One of my favourite things about buying vintage is that you never quite know what is going to turn up next.
A box can contain something more than a century old sitting beside a piece of colourful mid-century glass, and each one sends me down a completely different research rabbit hole. My latest additions to Katie’s Vintage Corner have certainly done that.
There have been a few surprises along the way too, including pieces that turned out to be rather more interesting than their original listings suggested.
A Pair of Victorian Survivors
Among the oldest recent finds are a beautiful pair of T.G. & F. Booth blue and white lidded tureens.
Made in Staffordshire during the Victorian period, these are decorated in the firm's Dresden pattern, registered in 1883. Their scrolling cobalt-blue decoration, floral motifs and wonderfully elaborate handles have survived for around 140 years.
They aren't pristine, and I wouldn't want them to be.
One has chips to the lid and base, while both show the crazing, staining and little signs of age you'd expect from genuine Victorian tableware. Those marks are part of their history rather than something to disguise.
Pieces like these always make me wonder about the tables they've sat on and the households they've passed through before somehow ending up here in Wales.
A Very Unhappy Honiton Fish 🐟
Then there's possibly my favourite character from the latest group.
This vintage Honiton Pottery fish dish was made in Devon and decorated with a wonderfully eccentric hand-painted fish surrounded by turquoise, purple and blue.
He's not an elegant fish.
He looks mildly offended by absolutely everything.
And that's precisely why I love him.
Vintage British pottery can sometimes take itself rather seriously, but pieces like this remind us that post-war potteries also produced colourful, playful designs intended simply to make a home more interesting.
Mid-Century Elegance from Wedgwood
At the opposite end of the personality spectrum is a Wedgwood Asia Black R4288 coffee pot.
Produced during the mid-20th century, its crisp white bone china is decorated with dramatic black geometric panels and restrained gold detailing.
The Greek-key-inspired pattern gives it a distinctly modern feel even decades after it was produced.
It's one of those vintage designs that could sit comfortably in a contemporary kitchen today without looking remotely out of place.
Villeroy & Boch Perugia 🌷
Another colourful arrival is a small Villeroy & Boch Perugia teapot, decorated with pink-red tulips, green foliage and fresh blue and turquoise detailing.
Made in Luxembourg, the discontinued Perugia pattern is considerably younger than some of the antiques I sell, but discontinued tableware has developed a collecting world of its own.
Sometimes somebody isn't looking for an entire dinner service. They're searching for the one missing piece that completes a set they've owned for years.
That's one reason I enjoy stocking replacement china alongside more unusual decorative pieces.
Ruby, Gold and a Little Bit of Glamour
Glass has featured heavily in the latest additions too.
One particularly striking piece is a small ruby-red art glass pitcher, with a scalloped rim, textured body and clear applied handle containing sparkling gold-toned aventurine.
Nearby you'll find a set of six tiny ruby and gold Venetian Tre Fuochi-style cordial glasses, decorated with colourful floral enamel.
They're only around 2½ inches tall, but subtle they are not.
And sometimes vintage shouldn't whisper.
Sometimes it should arrive wearing red and gold and demand the cocktail cabinet. ❤️🔥
Sunbursts and Cocktail Cabinets
Another recent find takes us firmly into retro entertaining territory: a tall glass decanter accompanied by six matching cordial glasses.
Each piece has a cranberry-red band decorated with repeating golden sunburst motifs.
Sets like this instantly evoke the era of drinks cabinets, after-dinner liqueurs and glassware that came out specifically when guests arrived.
Today they work just as beautifully as display pieces, especially when an entire original set has managed to remain together.
And Then There Was Greece...
One of the more unusual recent discoveries came from Ioannina in Greece.
At first glance, the emerald-green glass ewer is dramatic enough. Look closer and it becomes far more interesting.
The glass body is enclosed in elaborate aged metalwork with twisted wire decoration, scrolls and an architectural medallion marked IOANNINA.
The metal has developed considerable tarnish and patina over the years.
I could polish it.
I won't.
Vintage doesn't have to look new to be beautiful. Sometimes the scratches, tarnish, crazing and softened gilding are precisely what tell you that an object has already lived a life before reaching you.
That's the Joy of Vintage
There isn't much connecting a Victorian Staffordshire tureen, a grumpy Devon fish and a tiny ruby cordial glass on paper.
But perhaps that's the point.
Katie's Vintage Corner has never been about filling shelves with identical things.
It's about finding objects with character. Some are valuable, some are historically interesting, some are beautiful, and occasionally something simply makes me laugh when I unpack it.
Every new collection sends me researching makers, decoding marks and disappearing into old catalogues to discover exactly what I've found.
And there are always more boxes waiting.
You can explore all the latest vintage finds at Katie’s Vintage Corner.
Amanda