Thrifty Monday

Hi everyone, happy week before Christmas!?!?!  Are all your presents wrapped under the tree?  Mine certainly are not!

This week I have a couple of finds for you that I have been putting off to show you more exciting finds.  Not that I don't love every piece in my collection equally!

First up this  Barker Bros Primrosa jug.  It goes with the plates I found a while ago, and I thought they needed an extra friend. 

It was pretty dirty when I found it at Spittelfields market, and I really thought that I could clean it up.  Unfortunately, that was not really the case.  As you can see by the stain by the lip of the jug. 

This jug was also pretty chippy, but I think those pieces need extra love.  Or something like that.  It's been so long since I bought this that I can't remember what I paid.  I don't think I would have spent more than a pound or two.

 

Next up is this pretty Jaj Pyrex Chelsea sugar bowl.  I got this one off of eBay a few months ago.  Don't ask what I spent, I can't remember.  

I thought that this piece would benefit from at outdoors photo shoot.  Clearly this was before the demon frost from the depths of  Siberia descended upon the UK.  

Did you find anything good this week?  Will you be buying any of your friends and family thrifty gifts?

I’m going to link up with Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, and Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl, and Thrifty Love at Cap Creations, and the Thriftasaurus at Sir Thrift A Lot, and Junkin Joe at The Cottage Market..

eBay Fail #2

A few months ago I posted about my first UK eBay fail here. Now I've had another.  I guess that when you consider how much I buy off of eBay that these types of things are bound to happen on occation.  Still, I find it to be really dissapointing.

A few weeks ago I won an auction for 4 Grindley Tea/Coffee cups, as the seller listed it.  What I recieved was 4 espresso, mini type cups.

Now, these are cute, really cute, and I might have bought them anyway if they had been listed properly.  However, they aren't very useful and this isn't what the seller listed. So I contacted the seller and met a very rude woman.  First she wouldn't let me send them back, then I raised a claim and was able to send them back, then she claimed that they were all broken and that I didn't pack them in anything, besides a box I assume.  Of course they were packed very well, better than when she sent them to me. 

This is just to show you the size difference.

In the end I asked eBay to make the final ruling and I got my money back and left negitive feedback.  Part of me feels like I shouldn't have bothered to go to so  much effort, sometimes I wouldn't bother.  However, I think that its really important for sellers to know when they list things incorrectly.  I think too many people just don't say anything and that makes it more difficult to deal with sellers when things are perfect.  

Anyone have any bad eBay luck recently?

 

As if I Could Stop

I have this problem that I'd like to share.  Often when I go to buy Christmas presents, or maybe just when I'm researching options, or looking for ideas, I end up with a present for myself.  I was picking up something secret for Mr Grumpy and I found this:

A Booths Blue Mist coffee pot.  Now, I don't drink coffee, and I'm not even sure if Booths falls under my allowed utility china umbrella.  However, my Booths jug that I found here and it was getting rather lonley on its own.  Plus, I just love the blue color.  How could I say no to a 99p eBay win?  Well, I couldn't, only someone much stronger and with better budgeting skills than I could have.

My other find was actually something I forgot to add to another post.  It was found along with my massive Johnson Brothers haul a few weeks ago, or maybe a month at this point?  It was in the window of a charity shop and called to me.

I don't know what Fru-Grains are.  All I know is that this tin, at £5 had my name on it.  I think that I'll be using it to hold my wooden spoons.  However, I'm a bit worried if it gets damp.  How do you display your vintage tins?  Do you use them, or are they there to be ornimental?

I’m going to link up Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl and Thrifty Love over at Cap Creations.

Pink Love

Morning everyone!  I hope that everyone is excited for the start of a new week!  Who am I kidding, now that it’s November the run up to Christmas has begun and we all know that it will be here in a blink of the eye.  What a better way to put it off than to talk about some utility china!

I won this on eBay during my hiatus from my blog.  It wasn’t super expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either.  I think it was partially this object that made me put my speed of acquisition on hold.  This item was pick-up only, but the seller was in London, and, as I later found out, worked around the corner from me.  So one day during lunch I met her in Liverpool Street Station and she handed me two large heavy and breakable bags.  It then spent more than a week bringing it home piece by piece.

What is this mystery object you ask?  Why, it was a Grindley Peach Petal Tea/Coffee set.  

Bliss.

So I am now the proud owner of four tea cups:

A milk jug:

A sugar bowl:

Some type of tray:

And a coffee pot!

All with this backstamp:

This past week while checking out the Thursday antique far in Spittlefields I spotted 3 Grindley Peach Petal serving plates, large, medium and small.  The seller wanted £20 and then proceded to tell me that they were made between 1891 and 1901, as after 1901 Grindley started printing Made in England instead of just England on their backstamp.  I told him that they were post war and not as old as he thought.  He then told me that it was impossible to find anything with this backstamp.  I had to go back on him and say, no its not, I've got a tea set! Needless to say, I didn't buy.  Partially because he wouldn't budge on price and paritially because I didn't think they were in very good shape, in fact, they might not be usable anymore.  When I got back to my office I looked up the backstamp, Peach Petal went into production in 1954.  I can't believe how much he was trying to lie to me.  Buyer always beware

Anyone else ever have a seller try to really do one over on them?

I’m going to link up with Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, and Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl, and Thrifty Love at Cap Creations.

 

 

Johnson Brothers Haul

A few weeks ago I once again convinced the long suffering Mr Grumpy to join me in a quick thrift run one town over.  Don’t feel too bad for him though folks, he likes to visit a used DVD shop there and pick up Blue Rays of dubious quality.  Well, the Blue Ray itself is always fine; it’s the content it holds that can be bad enough to make me beg for that hour and a half of my life back!

Ok, tangent over, back to the real news. 

We weaved in and out of the shops, and I tried to speed thrift so that Mr Grumpy wouldn’t become extremely grumpy.  When we walked in one shop I immediately laid eyes on a piece of my desire.  I was behind Mr Grumpy and I started to push him a bit, saying “It’s go time, go, go, go!”  Yes people, I am that insane.  He thankfully held his ground because there was an elderly woman right in front of him that I couldn’t see.  This slight delay didn’t prevent me from grabbing this rather heavy pile off of the shelf.

Wow, was all I could think.  Mr Grumpy tried to bargain down the price of £12.99, but I blocked him a bit.  I’m not really comfortable trying to bargain with a charity. 

So what exactly was in the Johnson Brothers stack?

First up were these beautiful Greydawn large dinner plates.  Oddly, they had two different backstamps and I can't figure out which one is older.  Do you know?

The next two pieces were pretty simular, I  got two serving plates, including one ginormous one.  Its so big that a very large turkey could fit on it! Both plates have the same backstamp.  I thought I took a picture of these together, but I guess not.

I've saved the best for last.  I can't tell you how many times I've bid on, and lost  this Greydawn jug/pitcher.  I can't believe that I managed to find it in the wild.  It was such a rush!

 You can't really see the backstamp, but I thought that I'd share anyway. 

Johnson Brothers is my favourite pattern and I have so little of it that this haul was a definite rush.  I’m so pleased to have it in my collection.  But I am worried that I’m losing it a bit.  After I find something amazing, like the JB haul or the Pyrex piece I found a few weeks ago I just want more, and I want it now.  It’s like I’m a drug addict looking for my next fix.  Anyone else feel this way, or am I alone?

Also, a big thank you to Mr Grumpy, he carried the haul for the next hour so that I could have both hands to search through the remaining charity shops. 

I’m going to link up with Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, and Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl, and Thrifty Love at Cap Creations.