i saw two stainless steel teapots in my local op shop a while ago for $2 each..they didn't get my pulse racing like enamel teapots would but i loved their quality and design so i bought them, took them home and gave them a bath..never thought to check their history at the time but later on i did a casual search only to find that my ostensibly benign teapots have a really interesting history..they're made by 'old hall' which is considered to be the company that made the first stainless tea pot in the world..my teapots were designed in 1959 by leslie wiggin, a company family member, and belong to their most popular connaught range..i'm pretty sure i had their toast rack once but it went in a gung ho moment of 'i must get rid of some stuff' and 'whoever uses a toast rack anymore'..
i grew up with spoons that my father, before the days of political correctness, called 'simple simon slurping soup spoons (sssss)'..up until recently i'd only ever used my one and only sssss to serve cream or jam but after using one as an eating implement recently i now know why he labelled them this way..they're very deep so really difficult for elegant food retrieval..anyway, in the window of my local op shop recently, i saw a box of spoons that looked like my sssss but i couldn't be sure..something seemed a bit different but i went ahead anyway and i lashed out and spent the $15 for the set of six possible sssss..and hey..they were the same..just less worn..i did a search and discovered that the spoons are called 'jasmine' and that they were made by the company 'rodd'..i also learned that gold versions were commissioned in 1961 as a wedding present to the duke and duchess of york and that the epns (electroplated nickel silver) version was a popular wedding gift for the non polo playing/fox hunting and tiara/crown wearing types..
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| old hall 'connaught' teapot, fake enamel cup (a gift from my girl kat), enamel jug (eastern european) and rodd 'jasmine' spoon |
has an object ever been your teacher?
How interesting Jane. I love the memory of your father's spoon description, they sound very practical. Interesting royal trivia too! Thank you for the glimpse into Kat's wedding too...you know I love a wedding! x
ReplyDeletethanks jane..the spoons are not practical at all..but they hold fond memories so i love them regardless..x
ReplyDeleteI inherited a very heavy aluminium teapot that I was about to toss out when I went hunting and found out that it was worth quite a bit of money. I never use it as it is aluminium for crikies sake! My brain needs all of the cells it has let alone me welding them to doom with my industrially hot strong mugs (buckets) of tea but it was most interesting to find out that my trash was actually treasure ;)
ReplyDeletei have a fear of aluminium too for the same reason..i'm trying to get maximum mileage from my remaining neurones..x
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