Confessions of a Collectoholic

October 29, 2006 at 9:17 pm | In Antiques & Collectables |

Hello. My name is Karen and I’m a Collectoholic.

It all started when I was a child, collecting stamps and the labels off wine bottles and anything else that caught my eye. But in recent years it’s progressed to a more serious condition and I’m currently supporting 14 collections of ‘stuff’. I mostly collect stuff from the early to mid 20^th century but that’s not a definite boundary.

I thought it might be cathartic to write about some of my collections in this blog. Of course there’s a danger that this might have the reverse effect and encourage me to start even more collections, but that’s a risk I’ll have to take.

So first cab off the rank is Teapots.

I inherited a collection of novelty teapots from my mother (see it’s her fault, not mine). I’ll talk about those in a later post. But as a subset I have a small collection of Victorian and Edwardian porcelain teapots, three of which are pictured below.

I really love these old ones. There is such an air of elegance about them. Most teapots from this era came with a matching teapot stand, but typically this is one of the first things that get damaged so many teapots don’t have the stand.

I don’t have a lot of information about them and the makers’ marks are not helpful. I’m particularly curious about the one with the red roses and gorgeous gilt work. It has a mark of crossed anchors (not crossed swords) on the bottom and I’m advised that it’s of European manufacture (late 19^thC). But this mark does not appear on any list of porcelain markings that I’ve seen. If anyone knows anything about a crossed anchor mark I’d really appreciate you getting in touch with me.

The tiny one is probably the oldest of the three and the gilt has rubbed off in a number of places. And the greenish coloured teapot is probably Edwardian, around 1910-20.

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I’d be interested in hearing what you find out about them. I have a set of china which I am looking for replacements but can’t find the maker’s mark online either.

Comment by Tink — October 30, 2006 #
Your teapots look lovely. I can’t wait to hear what your 13 other collections are!! I do have a soft spot for teapots myself, I bought one (small Chinese looking one) about 20 years ago with the thought of collecting some, but never went any further with it! (short attention span perhaps??)

Comment by Heather — November 1, 2006 #
Tink, I have a 1930s dinner set made by Burleigh which doesn’t have a name. I found its catalog number at Replacements.com and they advise me on any pieces in my pattern that they come across. Perhaps it may be of help to you.

Comment by Karen — November 6, 2006 #
Thanks for coming over to my blog.
I love the teapots! I have a collection of cups and saucers (english bone china only, please) that is overflowing my curio cabinet. Both my grandmothers got me collecting those.
Roses are my favorite. I think your teapots are gorgeous…it makes me think of how lovely a cup of nice tea is.

Comment by hazasaem — November 14, 2006 #
Oh My, this looks like the twelve step program I need.

Hi, my name is Rae and I AM a ceramicaholic. It’s ridiculous.

I have limited my collecting to American made pieces, so that helps a little!

I have teapots, dinnerware, white ware & more. I might be able to help some with questions, as I have acquired quite a bit of useless pottery information over the years.

Comment by Rae — January 27, 2007 #
Oh, I almost forgot, can I see a picture of the mystery mark & the mystery pattern?

Comment by Rae — January 27, 2007 #
Thanks Rae. I’m sending you a pic of the mark and if you can identify it I will be very grateful.
Meanwhile repeat after me, ” I do not need to collect things. I do not need to collect things.”
Nope, it’s not working for me either.

Comment by Karen — January 29, 2007 #
[...] and varied collections, will know that I’m a bit addicted to ‘old stuff’ (see Confessions of a Collectaholic). So an Antiques Fair makes me feel like a kid in a candy [...]

Pingback by Ballarat Antiques Fair 2007 « Scraps of Mind — March 14, 2007 #
Hey Karen,
With all due respect… but don’t you think you might need to get a little help?
My brother’s room is totally and fully stuffed with …ehm old stuff and he just doesn’t throw it away.
This is collectaholism, right? My mother doesn’t know what to do with him…! I’m right now surfing on the net trying to get some help for my brother with his problem. What do you think? Since you can call yourself a collectaholic, could you tell me how collactaholics think?? I hope everything’s okay with you… Well…later byebye! …almost 17year old hopeless girl

Comment by mo — March 23, 2007 #
hm… well I surely can’t help my bro but maybe I can help you a little by saying:
You don’t need to collect things… Try to find some outdoor activities (hm I should do that too) The problem with collecting is that the place you live in gets so full of it that you can hardly breathe and it’s always in the back of your head that you have so many things… It’s so heavy! I feel a lot better everytime I can get rid of something in my room. You bytheway don’t need a lot of furniture because you’ll choke. Just get all the things you need into your place and don’t try to buy too many things extra! I think it’s more healthy to have contact with the right people then to have to communicate with collectors items (lol)
Hm… I hope the story helped a little… I’m just very concerned about collectors….
Thanks for reading!
Byebye! mo…

Comment by mo — March 23, 2007 #
Well I’m not entirely sure where you’re coming from Mo. You seem to be offering me rehabilitation advice,but that assumes I actually want to be rehabilitated. I’m actually quite happy to be a collectaholic but I’ll definitely keep your words in mind if I find it taking over my life.

Comment by Karen — March 25, 2007 #
Hi Karen,
we have some china bearing the crossed anchors mark which you describe. We have five cups, six saucers, milk jug, sugar bowl, 1 large plate and about 18 side plates. These were bought for us as a present and ever since we have been trying to find out something about them without success. Yours is the first reference to this mark which we have found.
I have some photos of the items which I could e-mail to you if you would be interested to see them.
Best wishes
Dave & Dot

Comment by Dave — March 26, 2007 #
Thanks, I didn’t mean to hurt you or anything and I’m not saying you are a total nutcase or anything
but yeah… I was just warning because I know how stuffed our house was a while ago…
But I appreciate that you read all of my blablabla’s
Kind regards and all the best,
mo

btw: oh my I just read my piece… ?!

Comment by mo — March 30, 2007 #
oh and Karen,
It’s great that you are happy the way you are…
That’s what most important isn’t it??
I guess I didn’t think far enough
btw: I first collected turtles and I like cat-things and small model BMWcars
So yeah , call me a hypocrite
It’s just that I don’t have a lot of it ( 3 model BMW’s and 3 cat-cards and two cat-figures ehm…
Well, gotta go!
mo

Comment by mo — March 30, 2007 #
[...] have copies of the posts I’ve written and many of the photos, such as those for my collections, I haven’t kept anywhere [...]

Pingback by Have you backed up your blog? « Scraps of Mind — April 16, 2007 #
I have a white bowl on foot, 7 1/4 inches diameter and 6 3.4″ High

It has a raised pattern of scrolls and flowers around the body, and a simpler pattern on the foot.

All the raised patterns are gilt, as is the body of all the flower heads.

This has the crossed anchors on the base in green.

I have no history, and would like to know more.

Jerry

Comment by Jerry — May 6, 2007 #
[...] in that last sentence. Those that have been reading this blog for a while will know what a sucker for collecting stuff I am. And this is too good an opportunity not to combine my love for collecting with my love for [...]

Pingback by Artist Trading Cards « Scraps of Mind — May 28, 2007 #
[...] and varied collections, will know that I’m a bit addicted to ‘old stuff’ (see Confessions of a Collectaholic). So an Antiques Fair makes me feel like a kid in a candy [...]

Pingback by Scraps of Mind » Ballarat Antiques Fair 2007 — June 1, 2007 #