This week’s fresh to market vintage is sparking a rant. Pam knows her vintage angel pin is marked Cci but has been unable to discover the maker. How can it be that an adorable little angel has no trail to follow on the internet. You can find out how to split a clump of hosta in one click. You can find out whether a glassware pattern was made by Anchor Hocking or Jeanette Glass in a few clicks. But you can’t find a single trace of a company that marked its jewelry Cci? Not even a whisper?
Oh no, here’s another rant. Another hard thing to identify on the internet are some paintings and pieces of artisan pottery or glass, but not because the information isn’t there. Some signatures are so illegible you don’t even get to internet research phase. For the love of heaven, artists and artisans…please, we beseech you…sign your pieces with legible signatures.
Holy cow, we’ve got a third rant, this one about Linda’s celluloid marriage button. Why don’t we get beautiful keepsakes like that now? We would love to leave a wedding with something like that. We can imagine collecting and displaying buttons from various weddings. It would be so pretty. So let’s all work together to bring back photographic marriage buttons.
Whew, so glad to get that off our chest. We feel so much better. In fact, we’re ready to relax and enjoy this week’s fresh to market vintage.
Victorian Celluloid Marriage Button c 1900s
Long before there were event planners armed with digital cameras, there were traveling photographers and clever designers who marketed graphic celluloid buttons as a lasting way to commemorate the big events in life. The most beautiful buttons like this one were created in celebration of an engagement or marriage but we’ve also found them with pictures of newborn babies, school-aged children and family elders. In the last circumstance, they were intended to be a piece of mourning memorabilia which I find to be a lovely way to commemorate the end of a life well-lived.
Antique Signed Celluloid Marriage Button, $ 95
-Linda, Selective Salvage
Antique Ceramic Pitcher, The Devil’s Island CountyKerry, Ireland
I wonder if an American went to Ireland and brought this back whether it was new or later as an antique. It also could be that an Irish person took it to America a long time ago as a gift to their host or American kin. It is certainly quite old with its paste porcelain ribboning that created a frame for the hand-colored transfer. It may have been made in Germany but has no maker’s mark on its base. The Lakes of Killarney and the nearby Gap of Dunloe were popular when the young Queen Victoria visited in the mid-1800s and all of the beauty and natural splendor still takes one’s breath away today. It is chippy and worn from 100 years of use and washing but wears it like a dignified aulde soul. I picked this because my Irish roots are in County Kerry and I wanted something for the holiday where everyone can be Irish for the day. Slainte!
Souvenir Irish Pitcher, $ 74.99
-Mary Ellen, AuntHattiesAttic
Praying Angel Brooch
I’ve seen a few iterations of this brooch both with and without the rhinestone detail. This version seems to be the original, however. Marked on the back Cci with a mark above the i, I could not find information on the maker. It appears to be made around the 1980s and is in excellent condition. Being a cute little girl with a ponytail and angel wings I can imagine she would appeal to a wide range of folks. I mean, who can resist a sweet little angel?
Little Girl Praying Angel Brooch, $ 13.95
-Pam, Vintage Renude
Brayton Laguna Pottery Purple Cows
Design always has some kind of inspiration. The designer of these cows was inspired by the Gelett Burgess poem,
I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one!
And what purple cows they are. They’re lanky and long with expressive eyes that are somewhere between anxiety, guilt and a general woebegone feeling. Why are they sad? What have they done they feel bad about? And really, what is wrong with being a Purple Cow? What’s that expression…why blend in when you were made to stand out? There are lots of individual and even pairs of cows from this grouping out there, but not so many sets with all three of these Brayton Laguna Pottery beauties.
Brayton Laguna Pottery Purple Cow Family, $300.
-Laurie, NextStage Vintage
That’s this week’s fresh to market vintage. We hope it moo-ved you. (Sorry, couldn’t help it.)
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