Love of the Past

There are times I wonder if I was born in the wrong century as I find the things from a time gone by truly fascinating.  First of all how did so many delicate pieces of paper items, fine china and pottery survive over the course of that last century.  There is so much to learn from the past and the joy of finding a special piece to add to a collection is exhilarating.

A few years ago we started collecting and we collected everything we found interesting and very soon our house was bursting at the seams so we had to decide what we were really interested in collecting.  I had a real interest in Medalta Pottery simply because it was Canadian and better yet Western Canadian with the pottery being made in Medicine Hat, Alberta and the clay coming from Eastend, Saskatchewan.  So crocks, butter churns and water coolers it was, at one point we have over a dozen 1 gallon crocks all with different stamps.

Then one day we came across a green Medalta lamp and the focus changed!

We have had so much fun hunting down the next piece and building a colorful collection of beautiful pieces of Canadian pottery.  There are vases, lamps, pitchers, flower frogs, figurines, nursery rhyme children's dishes, beautiful hand painted pieces that are each unique, animal planters, miniatures, advertising items, plates, teapots, trivets and amazing cookie jars.

The Medalta plant in Medicine Hat had its ups and downs over the course of time and there are several books and articles written about the history of the pottery in Canada.  Pieces are dated by the stamp they are marked with and in fact there are many pieces that are not stamped at all, so it is a matter of seeing the different pieces and looking closely so you know what you are looking for.

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