Merry Christmas....Happy New Year

Once again another year is coming to an end and another one is about to begin.  We are truly blessed to have lived, loved and laughed in the last 12 months and shared a few adventures along the way.

We have met new people, learned lots, and added to our collection and even found pieces that we had seen in photos or read about in some of our books.

It is always the people we meet along the way and the memories we make that are the important things in life.

From our home to yours.....Merry Christmas and all the Best in the New Year.

His Favorite Vases

I think each of us has things we like, there is no particular reason except that we just like them  So it is with different styles, colors and glazes of vases in our collection.  Each of us have our favorites and in this blog we will look at his favorites.

Size, color, decoration and even slight variations of the same vase shape made before the vase was fired can all be found in one style of vase. 

Once again a blog of mostly photos.

Please leave us a comment and let us know what you like...

And the Search Continues......................

The Colors....

The colors we look at every day are amazing, they are vibrant colors, pale pastels and multi colored works of art.  What fun it is to see the many colors and decorations that Medalta made.

This will be a post of photos so you can enjoy the colors and decoration like we do.  There are silver leaves, gold flecks, hand painted scenes, hand painted 3-D type decorations, single colored glaze,  multi color glaze, glossy glaze and matte glaze.  That is a small list of what you can find.

For everyone reading this please comment and let us know what your favorite is!

Teapots......Great and Small

From tiny single cup to large family size the teapots came in different sizes, shapes, colors and decoration. 

Our teapots are Medalta and Albert Potteries and we love them all.  The most fun is trying to find everything in one color...teapot, cream pitcher and sugar bowl, as well as the different size of pots.

Sometimes they come to us from far away, one of our teapots was found in the United Kingdom.  It makes me wonder about how it got to be so far from home and the story of its travels across the ocean.  Was it perhaps a gift from someone to take home with them, was it mailed to someone or did someone come to Medicine Hat and see the teapot and fall in love with and just had to take it home.  I am sure it holds some stories.

                                  


It is exciting to open a parcel with a teapot that was purchased because it was a "good deal" only to realize that it is a larger size than the one on the shelf.  Such was the case with one of the cottage teapots, we liked the teapot and it was a "good deal" so we purchased it and thought maybe to use it as a trade but after opening it and seeing the size it went on the shelf with the others.
                                  
Like always the fun is in the search and the people we meet along the way.

So if you come to our house for tea.......please expect to get your tea bag beside your cup because although we have lots of teapots we have none to use for tea.

And the search continues.....

The Fun Continues.....

We were away for a few days and brought home some treasures.  We found some antique stores, flea markets and a couple of antique shows.  We picked up a vase that although we bought it over a year ago had not actually seen it and of course there is a story there.  It is a pretty one and as my aunt said "it is as old as I am".













We spent some time at the Calgary Collector's Club Show, there was some of everything there.....a few Medalta pieces but some great toys, glassware, records, and a myriad of other things.  It was a great show and we enjoyed poking around looking for treasures!


This vase was an antique store find.

Then it was on to the Medicine Hat Antique and Gun Show where once again we poked around looking for treasures.  Although we didn't find much, it was a great time to reconnect with friends.

         The plates were a Medicine Hat find.














                                                  This vase is a Calgary find.










We stopped to visit a couple of collectors and shared some stories.  Like always the real enjoyment is in the people we meet and the places we go!!







And the search continues.......

Favorite Things......

I think my favorite pieces are the cookie jars, although that changes on a weekly basis, but I do love the cookie jars.











There are hand painted scenes, hand painted flowers and then there are the ships and leaves that are hand painted or stencilled and then glazed.  The solid color glazed cookies are vibrant and beautiful.


We have collected a great number of cookie jars in several sizes, shapes, decoration and stamps.




There is one cookie jar that has an odd shaped lid and we have had it looked at to see if it is authentic or not and the person that examined it believes it is authentic.  He said that one person did most of the rope style handles so they were all the same and this matches the examples of the ones he did.  Photos of that will be in another blog so be sure to check back.








I can imagine these big old cookie jars sitting on the cupboard full of delicious homemade cookies that little hands would sneak the lid off and get a handful of cookies.  Perhaps that is why so many cookies jars don't have their lids anymore.

And the search continues............

Where it all started....

We spent most of a day touring the Medalta Museum in Medicine Hat.  We were very lucky and had a guided tour of the displays, the work area and even got to view the storage room where they keep all the non-displayed pieces. 

I can only imagine how hard the people worked in the factory and the conditions they worked in.  It must have been very hot working around the kilns, loading and unloading the pottery.  I admire the people that toiled so hard in those conditions to produce the pieces of pottery that we now collect.  From getting the clay ready right through to the hand painting of pieces, it was hard work with little mechanization available. 

The variety of pieces produced from the very utilitarian crocks to the very beautiful hand painted vases to the advertising pieces or the children's dishes, I am sure you could find Medalta in many homes in Western Canada.

The Friends of Medalta are to be commended for their tireless work to restore and maintain such an amazing part of Medicine Hat and Canadian History.