Teacup Tuesday September 7th, 2010. Treasure from Mike's Barn!

Hello Bloggies! I am back again for Teacup Tuesday with Martha at

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

and Terri at

http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/

Thank you ladies for hostessing this weekly gathering of teacups.

I live in eastern Ontario Canada. The closest city is Belleville and it has many thrift stores and antique stores. One of my favorite antique stores is "Funk & Gruven A-Z".

http://www.funkandgruven.com/

Mike, the owner, also has a barn literally packed full of "stuff in the rough" in West Lake out in Prince Edward County. I have been meaning to go to the barn for years and finally made it this past Saturday. I have a blog posting for that trip so I will keep it short here and just say that I found some treasures!! One of these treasures was a cup and saucer!

The barn is full of stuff and there is a shed full of stuff and shelves outside with boxes of stuff tucked away. I moved some pieces of old wood away from this shelf and started rooting around in this box.

And searched in this old drawer full of stuff also.  I found what I thought was an exquisite teacup and saucer and a pair of creamy white ceramic dove bookends. The teacup was chipped, so Mike gave it to me!!  Thank you so much, Michael!! I will always treasure it!!  The dove bookends were $5.  I'll show them in a later posting.

I got home and carefully washed the cup and saucer right away!!

They were made by William L. Lowe of Court China England.  This set was made between 1928-1930.  The pattern is very busy and elaborate. There is lots of what looks like handpainted gold edges and flowers and scrolls. The flowers are pink and violet with a very pretty green and a bit of yellow. The teacup has a wavy/crimped rim as does the saucer.  I think the handle looks like a little elf's ear!! (You can click on the pics and zoom in for a closer look)

I found the following information in an Ebay listing

"William Lowe Court china was based in Longton, North Staffordshire "the home of English fine china" from 1874 - 1931

They were based at the Sydney works on the corner of High St and Sutherland Rd Longton"

I decided that I needed to take some closer pictures, so you could see the design and the vibrant colours!!

Is it not gorgeous??!!

True "eye candy". The design reminds me of a stained glass window in a cathedral.

I hope you are having a lovely Tuesday browsing through all the teacup postings.

Take care!

Warm hugs, Laura.

P.S. I just had to tease you with a pic of the dove bookends.

Love, Laura!