Beloved Eleanor

Some more of my collection:

First is a vintage Valentine’s card franked February 14th, 1901 and is my only American postcard.  The lucky lady is Miss Rubie Bray of Bethlehem, PA.

The second pretty Sarah card has not been franked, but was sent to Miss Sarah Hawkin by her friend Bertha.  I think the images of Sarah may be that of Sarah Bernhardt, the actress.

The final card I believe is a WWI card, and has not been used.  It does however advertise the purchase of Government Securities.

Take a look at my lovely ‘new’ 1880s picture of Eleanor’s cross at Waltham.  I had not seen this particular image previously, and was admiring it last week.

Enter the lovely Carol – who got it for me!  Sending lots of hugs your way

I’ve loved Marcasite for years.  I think it must be because I saw people still wearing the sparkling brooches made of it when I was a child, and just maybe I saw pieces in the jumble (junk) sales I used to be drawn to then too.

I remember when I was very young owning 1920s and 1930s handbags, necklaces and earrings.  But, they were my dress-up, so I don’t have them now.  Just goes to show how your character and taste is fixed even at that young age.

Over many years I have been gifted and bought quite a few Marcasite pieces, I have a few necklaces and earrings, but mostly rings.  As I said in a previous post, the only vintage Marcasite I have is two rings that I bought fairly recently.

Below is a group shot of my Marcasite rings, then my 1920s Deco Marcasite ring, and lastly the Marcasite ring I bought a few weeks ago.  I think this one is 1930s.

As promised in my previous post, here amongst other things is the early plastic (probably early twentieth century) cameo brooch I bought at the antiques/collectibles shop at Haddo.

It is dark brown, detailed and gorgeous!  Didn’t hurt that it only cost a few pounds too

In other pictorial news, a few months ago I tracked down a children’s story book by Lavinia Smiley, also signed by her.  For those of you who don’t know, it was Mrs Smiley and her husband that donated the castle to the nation.

Another nice bonus was a little book about Sir Thomas Lawrence the artist (bit of scandal in there too, yay!) and a little oracle book, which looks like it was printed in the 1930s.  For those of you that also didn’t know – I collect oracles.

Please see the pics below, I have left some as thumbnails, and some give a closer view.  I have an update regarding the Mum’s knitting and creative projects, but as there is quite a lot to catch up on, it will follow in another post.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m really missing finding my antique jewellery bargains.  I’ve also now been lured into looking at antique silhouettes.  Great things to get, easy to store and the cheaper end of the market to buy thank goodness!

I haven’t had my fix of either for ages.  I haven’t bought a name brooch (or any other kind for that matter) since September 2008, and I haven’t got a silhouette to start my collection yet – soon I hope.

A Victorian Brooch Collective

Some of you may also remember that I love Victorian ‘black’ brooches, i.e Jet, Pressed Horn etc.  Here are some good sites to window shop at:

• Black As Jet
• Penelope’s Pearls
• Things Gone By

I haven’t bought anything from these sites yet, plus there are always auctions to pick up interesting items from.

Interesting information if you like this kind of brooches:

• Morning Glory Antiques Hand Motif Jewellery
• Art of Mourning: Brooches

Some of my black hand brooches

A selection of my favourites

Here also are some great shops to browse at silhouettes:

• Wigs on the Green
• Peggy McClard Antiques
• Richard Mole

Well, that will get me either the very wrong, or very right readers!

Most of you will have guessed I’m actually talking about the Steam and Vintage Fair at the Castle at the weekend.

WOW.  What a turnout (thank you!), what weather, what beautiful engines/cars/motorbikes etc etc.  I loved the tractors and the organ, the silver classic fire engine!  I was even able to get out for a short while to look at all the stalls and see some of the engines take part in competitions.

I didn’t get a ride on the steam waggon (boo) or the wee red bus (double boo) which I wanted to take home in my handbag, but maybe next year!  I think this was the best turnout ever, and I’m so happy for the Steam Club, and of course for the Castle.

If you weren’t there, where the hell were you?!  You missed a great one….

From the collection I inherited, the ship The Queen Mary.  This postcard was sent to my friend from onboard ship.

I’ve been looking at antique jewellery boxes for a few years now, but anything remotely nice has always been too expensive for me to get.

At the moment, the bulk of my brooch collection lives happily in a modern take on an antique box that I bought from Past Times, and it does the job, but still it’s not the same.

I was lucky enough to spot a small box at my local antique shop, and discovered that it is not only a Victorian Jewellery box, it is most probably a travelling one, and it still has it’s own key!  Very exciting for me, it’s in such good condition and was reasonably priced.

We can date it to the 1890s, as it has a small pocket where a lady would keep her fob watch, very fashionable at the time.  Check out some views below, the red interiors are much darker in natural light.

I haven’t decided what to put in it yet…

In more ways than one!  This postcard belonged to a friend of my family.  She lived next door to us in a house that was practically new when she moved in, in 1911 or thereabouts.

This postcard is particularly special, as the shop called H.F. Blackwell was her father’s who died during the Great War.  The town is not far from where we lived.

I was lucky enough to inherit a number of special things like this when she died.

I wanted to update everyone on my Victorian brooch collection, as I’m preparing a post about a ‘new’ item I’ve just acquired which is linked with these.

To recap – I started collecting name brooches after I fell in love with a little silver one ‘Edith’.  I’ve added to the collection from time to time, usually only when I spot one I particularly like.

So, to start there is:

All the Ladies

EDITH JANET ANNIE FLORRY SUSIE EMMA LIZZIE SOPHIA MAGGIE AGNES BERTHA FLORENCE

NELLIE ALICE BESSIE BELLA

The New Girls

SARAH BLANCHE MAUD

JANE EDITH

So Many Brooches, So Little Time

This is when I branched out into other Victorian brooches that I liked, not just names.  Also included:

PHYLIS LOUISA

Contrary Mary

This is the most recent name brooch I found, and has an interesting story!

MARY

Stay tuned for the sequel, more jewellery to come.