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.

Play Hide and Seek.....

As we start planning a get away we are looking to places we might find a new piece of Medalta.  It has been fun playing hide and seek and it is surprising the places we have found some of the harder to find pieces.
















We have been to antique flea markets in Minnesota, and antique shows in a couple of provinces and we always look for antique stores where ever we go.



















There are other places we look every time time we get a chance and leave our name and contact information every place we stop.  It has been an adventure for us researching and planning places to stop, people to see and trying to imagine where we might find another treasure.
























We have found Medalta in Canada, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, California and as far away as the United Kingdom.  Sometimes it is hard to imagine how pieces from Alberta made their way to the United Kingdom, places such as Montana are a little easier to understand as they are at least on the same continent.  It is even more amazing to attend a flea market with more than 285 vendors and finding a Manitoba advertising pitcher!



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