Thursday, October 07, 2010

Teacup Treasure


Were you puzzling over my Wordless Wednesday post yesterday?  Teacups?  Why is she showing us teacups?  Well, one because my reflection is in there and I thought that was cool... but secondly and more importantly, I was giving you a glimpse at one of my recent thrifting scores.  You see, I'm a garage saler.  A thrifter.  A junker.  Livin' on the edge.  I love digging for treasure and I keep meaning to show you some of the treasures I've picked up this summer so thought I'd start here.

I actually bought these two lovely and incredibly delicate teacups to make into ornaments.  They were marked "France" on the bottom which made me think of my dear friend Sonia, so I had to have them.  I really liked the one with the gold on the inside and the raised decorations on the outside.

I brought them home and was about to begin gluing into them when my curiosity got the better of me and I trotted off to the computer to see if I could identify them.


Turns out these little lovelies are Limoges porcelain paste cups circa the late 1800s.  What I found to be really interesting was that Limoges pieces were often sold as undecorated "blanks" and sold to hobbyists and art schools to be painted.

I tried to identify the two patterns I found and came up empty.  It makes me really wonder who used to drink tea from these (she was a lefty, based on the wear on the rim), who painted them, and how I was lucky enough to get them for 50 cents.

I have no idea what I'll do with them.  I can't bring myself to glue in them, and fine breakables are in constant danger of well, being broken, around here. 

Any ideas?

14 comments:

Sonia / COZY MEMORIES said...

aw my friend, you are a sweetheart ! can you see the huge smile on my face :D thank you
now, what to do with these gorgeous cups if you don't want to glue in them ? If not drinking in them, you can pour candles in them, they would be so beautiful ! Sorry but that's my only idea right now.
Oh, I had to come thank you for the kind words you left at my blog minutes ago ... because I'll return you the compliment, my dear. :) That's so bad we live sooooo far away, because you'd see me so often, actually drinking something out of these beauties, with you ! xoxoxoxo hugs

Unknown said...

Score! Gorgeous! Isn't if fun to find the history of little treasures. I love hidden pasts. I agree with Sonia... candles would be so pretty on your dressing table.

KarenB said...

I had the same candle thoughts, but am wondering what one of your creations would look like inside? Maybe something a little different than you usually do. Is that what you meant by an ornament? If so, scrap that idea and go with a candle. You can always remove them.

Anonymous said...

What about posies of lovely scented herbs (lavender or rose geranium, etc and roses (the old english ones - David Austin roses - or iceberg) while enjoying a meal of having tea with family and friends to share the beauty of your treasures.

antilight said...

You are a very lucky person, to find such a treasure. These two are so beautiful! If I had these I would drink a delicious tea from them. Or they would find place on window sill to please eyes.

Sharon said...

I think you should use them to drink you tea. Use them and enjoy them. If they break, then you can do whatever you want with them with no guilt and you've had them be useful until then. If you really don't want to drink from then, you could set them on your dresser and add mementos to them or jewelry maybe. You could even hang them from your Christmas tree with a ribbon. All kinds of things come to mind. Mostly, enjoy them!

Margie Oomen said...

plant a real live or needle felted moss garden in them
nothing glued, nothing damaged

NanaBeast said...

Lisa, they are gorgeous! I especially love the green and gold one.

When my kids were young I had about 5 precious-to-me teacups and I left them packed away. We moved several times during their childhood and the box of teacups stayed packed up. When we moved to our currnet home 11 years ago I opened that box and it was like opening a box of treasure! The kids were much older and breakage of the cups wasn't a threat anymore. I started using those cups and adding more to my collection. They bring me such joy. Especially now that my eldest collects them, too. These cups have seen such good times at teas, as decorative pieces around the house and as subjects of my photography.

I hope you enjoy your treasure, with their interesting history, for years to come!

Patricia said...

Stunning. Breathtaking. There aren't enough superlatives to express how wonderful that photograph is. And to know the story behind the teacups makes it even more amazing. Thank you so much for sharing yourself and your vision through your photos and your blog. And I'll take a whole set of those photos as notecards.

Patricia said...

Oh, and I love all of the ideas for repurposing above. I'm sure you've seen Mimi K's "tiny world pincushions"? http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimik/sets/72157607433176447/

Brittany | the Home Ground said...

I think you should use them as a terrarium, to keep a needle felted habitat in. It's ok if you don't glue it in, just don't hang them from anything. They'd make a lovely display :)

Or, on mornings/evening when it's just you and no boys, take them out and enjoy a secret cup of tea!

Summer said...

By all means...have a tea party with your girlfriends while your kids are at school! I've always wanted to do that! :)

Unknown said...

what lovely little cups! I think you should use them - tea is never better than in a fine china cup and @ 50cents what have you got to loose? Live for today & enjoy them! You could also plant snowdrops or the tiny daffodils - & bring the outside in? whatever you do - they're still lovely!

ShalMayan said...

Lovely tea cups! I have a collection of them and since I live in a small space, I bring mine out at Christmas and hang them on the tree with gold ribbon in remembrance of the wonderful older ladies who gave them to me over the years... I have at lease a dozen of them and everyone loves the fact that the tree has a theme of tea cup memories...looking forward to Christmas in our very first home of our own this year...been waiting 29 years for a place and those cups will gleem on that tree... xo!

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