MY QUEEN VICTORIA INTEREST

 

I thought I'd share again my collection
of Queen Victoria wares which
I recently decided to move over to my kitchen
open armoire shelving.  The teapot on the
right on the stand above is a commemorative
jackfield type pottery one.  And then
another below with the sliding lid:

 Over the winter and early this year, I started collecting some Commemorative Queen Victoria spoons, a pair of sugar tongs and a couple commemorative pins which I love. The pin on the right shows 4 generations:  from Queen Victoria to the little girl,  Princess Mary:

A lady in Canada who I was communicating with told me about this book which is very interesting:

 

I found mine very inexpensively on ebay.

I was wanting just one cup and saucer for each Royal couple in the  succession of Kings and Queens that followed Queen Victoria.

After she died her son Edward VII became King and then his son George V (remember in the Downton Abbey movie)
then Edward VIII (abdicted) and followed by George VI  before Queen Elizabeth.

This week might be a wonderful time to experience

 an Afternoon Tea too!  Queen Victoria

certainly contributed to the advancement of 

teatime.  You will find many recipes on my site to

bake and prepare food items for an Afternoon Tea.

THE FISH THAT GOT AWAY OR THE TEAPOT ANYWAY

I know you all have a story to tell and

since we have "time to our hands" I

thought I'd tell mine.  About a 

month ago I was bidding for several

things on ebay.  I am sure many 

of you have done that before.  Back in
December I purchased 2 sets of antique

staffordshire dogs for my mantle - I 

wanted to go with white ones so
these arrived and are very old and
I love them.

If you are looking for the old staffordshire
dogs, they are reasonable right now from
England.  We have an unusual area next to
our kitchen called a Hearth Room and I
use it for my more formal furniture.  I don't
really have a dining room and our living room
area is more casual.

Now that we are retired we live in
a different way as it is just the two of us. 
 So one day earlier this year I saw a 
single white dog available and frankly
 really cheap on ebay. I thought I 
could add it in the middle.  Of particular 
interest to me was the fact that it was from an
 estate in the Lake District so that thrilled my
 little heart as I could imagine Beatrice Potter
 herself had been to visit the home where it 
came from. (not really)  I asked the couple
 how much the shipping to the US would be as
 they had not done that and naturally this can
 be expensive.  They said it was 10:00 PM
 at night there so I should not buy it but
 rather wait till the morning and they 
would post the shipping.

You are already guessing how this story is
going - right?  

Well, when I went to my computer in the
 morning - someone had purchased it of course
 and the selling couple apologized and said 
that had certainly never happened 
before - ha!

Now that was just my warm up story.

This happened the next day.  I had also
 been watching a certain historic type teapot 
which could never be used because of a
 large cracked piece in it.  The thing is
 though - it would make a great display
 piece.  It was very cheap too and no one
 was interested in it but me I thought and it
 was coming up for final auction the next
day in the afternoon.  I was ready
and excited but there was just one
little problem the next day.  I still don't
know why but my computer wouldn't let
me on online that day.  I tried all day
to no avail.  Someone got this teapot
really cheap: (ebay photos)

You can see the crack rendering the handle
useless to the right back.  But isn't this amazing
 with Queen Victoria in 1837 at her Coronation
 and in 1897 at her Diamond Jubilee! 
 Whoever has it -
I hope you love it!

  Here was the back:

So that's my FISH THAT GOT AWAY story......

HISTORICAL COLLECTION

Are you interested in Queen Victoria

and Prince Albert?

  You may have watched

the television series on PBS called

"Victoria".  We watched it and later

purchased the DVD's.  I had never

read much about Queen Victoria's
 time from 1837 to 1897.  We all know
this became known as the Victorian Era.

I recently became interested and also

to learn a little about each King who
 followed

her up to Queen Elizabeth II.

Today my box arrived from England

and 3 more pieces of the lustre (English

spelling) ware that was originally sold at

the 1851 Great Exhibition as souvenirs.

The pieces are so old now that many

have stains, etc but I don't intend to

use them for food but rather as a

historical collection.

I already had the cup and saucer which
show the Queen's daughter Vickie who
married Prince Frederick who became
the King of Prussia and Germany.  This
cup and saucer is from 1858.

During this difficult time - you might like
to read about Queen Victoria online.
I have looked up many things but
I have not read her old diaries.  I
heard that they are online too.

The teapot above is very unique as the lid slides off to the right.  The queen looks rather
mad here.  This was a commemorative from
 her diamond jubilee in 1897.  I have seen
 this same "sketch" of her on other things
 and it is not very flattering. 

ENGLISH KING AND QUEEN TEA COMMEMORATIVES

I have recently re-watched the PBS movie

Victoria and also other past versions

about Queen Victoria.  What a fascinating

person she was and what about her amazing

husband Albert.  He was a great man of

integrity.  If you have looked back and

studied the many Kings of England,  you 

know that was often not the case.

I have been enjoying a display of my King

and Queen tea wares this winter in my kitchen.

I change this display regularly so then

 other types come up and these go back down
 to the basement tea room. I also made an
 ephemera  medallion but I know I overdid 
this one so others won't be quite so full.  

My Fulton friend, Karen who I met through 
the Tasha Tudor Facebook Group when
  I lived in Colorado Springs,  got me 

interested in the Victoria and Albert

 lusterware pieces that were sold at the 

1851 Great Exhibition.  Prince Albert was

 in charge of this event and oversaw the project.

  After reading about the pieces which were

 sold as souvenirs at the exhibition and after

seeing Karen's collection, I was smitten!

I have acquired a few pieces.

If you purchased something from the UK,

you know the shipping is what drives your bottom line up.  I was able to find this Staffordshire figurine in Georgia, USA

 so that helped a lot.  

Another friend, has one of these I 

had admired at her home.

I just added a 9" plate
 which arrived from
England to my 
collection:

Queen Victoria became Queen when her

 uncle, King William IV died and he had no 
living male son as heir to the throne. Two
 of her other uncles also did not have
 legitimate male heirs so it passed to her.

 She was only 18 years old.

She served as Queen from 1837 to 1901 and her name is why it is called the Victorian Era.

Her son Edward the VII became King in

1901.  His wife was Alexandra. 

 He served until 1910 and we call his

period the Edwardian Era.

Next we have King George V and his wife

 Queen Mary. If you saw the Downton

 Abbey movie, they were portrayed in

 the story.  He served from 1910 until 1935.

Remember the Titanic went down in 1912.

So who comes next?

Remember the King who abdicted to

marry a divorced American woman?

King Edward the VIII was on the

throne for a brief period and then

George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

If you saw the "King's Speech"

that would be George VI.

He served from 1935-1952

And of course Queen Elizabeth - 

the present Queen and longest

 reign to date!  I have really enjoyed

reading about all of these but find

Queen Victoria is a favorite.

If you saw the PBS Historical Documentary

"The Wedding"  - you probably found

it fascinating like it did.  I have watched it

several times lately.  I could barely
keep up with all the history in "The 
Queen's Palaces" about the 3 royal 
residences.  

I need to say - I may not have everything

100% correct in this post. I am learning.

Just let me know if something is wrong.

Are you interested in Queen Victoria?