AntiquesAvenue

Jam pots, preserve pots and honey pots were all made to hold your favourite spreads on the table. Some were meant for the jam jar to fit inside others are for the preserve to be put straight into. Some have spoon shaped cut outs in the lids and others do not. 

 There is a huge range of these collectable pots available and as they are small and stand easily on their own they are easy to collect and display well. A collection would certainly make a good converstaion piece in the kitchen or dinning room.

Antique preserve pots from the victorian era and vintage preserve pots through to the 1950s and beyond were made by all the major staffordshire potters. They come in all shapes and colours. Some collectors specialise in preserve pots fron a particular era or manufacturer whilst some just collect say Honey pots with bee’s for finials. Starting at just a few pounds these are a collectable for those with limmited funds as a collection can be built without spending a fortune.

The two pots pictured are currenly available from antiquesavenue on ebay

Recently I was delighted  to bump into  Susan Tobin on the interenet. Susan is the author of the book “Wedgwood Glass” which ( to the best of my knowledge) is the only book on wedgwood glass available.

I have found this book most useful and it is always my first call if I have need for more information on a piece of Wedgwood Glass. For me there are two particularly interesting sections - “Paperweights” and “Candlesticks and Candleholders”. There is also a fascinating section about Kings Lynn glass and how where many of wedgwoods famous glass designs started out.

With plenty of colour pictures and a reference section indexing the wedgwood codes to their shapes and colours this book is a must for serious wedgwood glass collectors. I had hoped to be able to point you to this book for sale but unfortunately it seem to be out of print at the moment so good luck hunting for it on second hand book sites.

Published in 2001 and has 26 pages, ISBN 0-9580234-0-9

Just a quick note to remind you that this month antiquesavenue is giving away completely free of charge a genuine vintage brooch. Add your comments here or to the original post  by the end of this month and I will send this lovely old piece of costume jewellery to the entry I judge best. Also check back soon for news of Decembers free gift.

As regular readers know I am fascinated by vintage silver charms and charms bracelets especially english charms including antique victorian charms and silver charms from the 1960s and 1970s.

Recently I have aquired and interesting selection of silver charms which are set with coloured and faceted glass crystals. These charms on the larger side and so make a bright and colourful addition to any collection of vintage charms. Imagine a charm bracelet full of these - it would just burst with colour and would certainly be a statement or signature piece of jewelry.

Some of these charms are made by Nuvo charms who are generally acknowledged to be the best English cahrm maker from the 1960s / 1970s. Others are unmarked but due to their high quality may also be Nuvo or possible Chim charms.

The range includes the more usual tea and coffee pots but also some more unusual shapes notably:a table lamp with a crinoline lady, a fat man driving a bi-plane, a dog chasing a cat up a lamp post and Atlas with the world on his shoulders.

Please do contact me if you have any unusual vintage crystal set silver charms. I can add them here if you send me a photograph in .jpg format.

Stick pins, Ties pins, Lapel pins -  three different terms for the same piece of Jewelry. These little pins seem very quaint and old fashioned these days but they are also very collectible - I recently saw a show on television where even small and humble examples were valued at £100. For the purposes of this article when I refer to “stick Pin” I am also referring to Ties Pins and Lapel Pins.

What is a stick pin:The stick pin is smaller and less showy than a brooch but can be worn in much the same manner on the lapel of a jacket or pinned through a tie to both decorate it and keep it in place.  What differentiates it from a brooch is the way it is made and held in place. The stick pin has the decorative element at the top of a long stick rather than having a pin behind it. This allows the decorative detail to be very small if required. These were worn by Victorian and Edwardian  Gentleman and Ladies however these days they are more seen as Jewelry for Gentlemen.

How a stick pin works: Most antique stick pins have a spiral groove around the pin which was used to screw on a “keeper” which acted to prevent the stick pin from coming loose. This is one indicator in telling if your stick pin is antique or more modern as modern copies do not tend to have this groove. You can see an example of this groove in the third photo below of the opal stick pin.

 

 What is a Stick pin made of? The actually pin is normally made of metal, Gold, Gold plate , silver or steel. The heads were made of a huge range of materials : Gem set gold, shell cameo, tiny paintings under glass, jet, micromosaics and many more. Please visit my range of antique  stick pins for sale