Friday, March 27, 2009

Truant in the Trees & Treasures: Could This Be George Washington's Teacup?



Shackleton is being tutored three days a week now, far from the Last House, at a place where they have experts who will transform him into a reading boy. (Oh please, and fast! These experts don't come cheap).



Tutoring ended at noon today, a Friday. I was supposed to be at work but because WHusband is down Mexico way giving a paper at some academic conference, and because tutoring must not be missed, I took the day off to attend to Shackleton.



Remember, it was NOON on a FRIDAY when Shack was sprung from tutoring. His school is about an hour from the tutoring center, meaning he wouldn't get there til 1 PM. Schol ends at 3 PM. The sun was out. Our favorite park, Redrocks Park in South Burlington, Vermont -- where some of the last old-growth trees in Vermont grow on cliffs above Lake Champlain -- was just down the road. Should we drive an hour back to school or get a picnic lunch and go to Redrocks?



One guess...

In Other News

My day began today with WHusband summoning me to the phone with shampoo in my hair. His hair was practically on fire down in Mexico because we got a robot call from a credit card company yesterday saying "Call Immediately about Your Account." I passed on this info. in an email, but it turns out he couldn't call from Mexico - the number wouldn't work. "Fix this!" He was nearly frantic. I could not fix it for various reasons. (Like, I am not on this account). Long story short, after many early morning abortive attempts to resolve the mystery credit card issue ("call and enter this code," was all the instruction I had, and the code didn't work) we left late for school. I drove through the morning's gray rain in a BAD Mood. After dropping Shack with the experts, I was on my way to a computer somewhere to see if I could attack the credit card problem online when my attention was diverted by a sign "Williston Antique Center" and a flag that fluttered by the door, "Open". The sun came out at about that moment.

Brown transferware from the aesthetic period is a recent interest. Et, voila:








And haven't we been talking off and on about hat boxes?



And you know my unfortunate weakness for anything English and twee? I think these are from about 1948...



I felt much better after an hour in that shop. The jug may have to go to EBay to finance this little bit of therapy. However it works out, though, it was cheaper than a marriage counselor or a divorce lawyer.

I didn't get to my email til we got home around dinner time. It turned out there was no fraud. (He finally got through to them on his own). The robot phone call was the fraud. Take note. Whusband was apologetic in his last email.

One Last Thing - Could This Have Been George Washington's Tea Cup?

After tutoring yesterday (Shack doesn't go back to school on Thursdays cause tutoring starts late) we went to the household goods store at Recycle North. It's a great place where they sell donated goods for good purpose. I love it because you never know what you'll find and I have no guilt buying stuff there. Shack got a Soap Box Derby trophy and a change bank and I got a bunch of Made in USA midcentury pottery:





for about $6.

My great find yesterday, however, may be this little teacup. It was sitting with all the other 25 cent tea cups - but I could see right away it was old, old, old. Any experts out there who can weigh in with some info.? It is not so white as modern porcelain and it is rough to the teeth when you rub it. (I think this means something about how it was made, which is why I am willing to share that I have rubbed a junk-store teacup against my teeth.)









OK experts, do your stuff. I would be grateful for anything you can tell me about this object. We're talking, there's-a-prize-in-it-for-you grateful. Something kind of good, though not this teacup. I am taking it to Shelburne Museum next time I go...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any day in the woods and on a lake is better than a day at school in my view, although there were a few times during college when that philosophical take on life did not inure to my benefit. Paraphrasing "Joel" in Risky Business, "'Goodbye' Harvard Law; 'Hello' Mizzou!"

(I know bubkus about tea cups, BTW)

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

my first guess is a japanese teacup before 1920. pick a good antique store that sells really good dishware & let them give you an idea.
love the boxes - one can never have enough boxes. they make great containers for gifts - another reason to have an "adequate" collection of various sizes.
my sister in montpelier says the re-sale/recycle shop that was downtown is out of the barre-montpelier road now and seems quite promising....

Kim Velk said...

Hey R - It seems to me you have done just fine with a Mizzou pedigree.

Hi Deborah - Great suggestion. I was going to run it into an antique store but haven't done it yet. You know, it never occurred to me that it might be Japanese. Of course! That seems quite likely. More likely than it being 18th c. and European. I sent an email to a ceramics expert at Christies asking for help but I am not holding my breath. I haven't checked out the recent Recycle North expansion to Montpelier. I must do that.

Nan said...

Those junk phone calls are always just that, 'junk.' You may have read a blog entry I did where I said the ringer of my phone is permanently off now because of getting so many of these calls. Calls that warn of dire consequences if I don't call back. If you type the number you saw on your caller id into google, you'll probably see all the other people's responses about that particular number and many others.

On another subject, have you seen the new Yankee magazine - the March/April issue?? There's quite a long piece on the border!! It is written by Edie Clark. I have read two of her books, and thought them wonderful. More about her here:

http://edieclark.com/

Anonymous said...

when you have a chance would you post some of your fav antique/used items stores? or maybe you have a listing on a past post? i'm going to send those along to the sister in montpelier...
thanks!

Kim Velk said...

Hey Nan - Thanks for the tip on the Yankee mag article. I will definitely check that out. Also, I managed to see Frozen River last night (thanks to the Stowe Library). I thought it was really great.

Deborah - My favorite thing is to buy things at auction and Degre's is my favorite auction house. My favorite Vermont antique stores, as you have discovered, are M. Lewis in Waterbury and the Buggyman in Johnson. Buggyman is keeping winter hours now and is only open on weekends. The proprietors there are particularly colorful and welcoming and they have tons of stuff. The Williston Antiques Center was a recent discovery (just last week). It's a group shop and, unfortunately, it's closing at the end of April. The good news for shoppers is (the clerk let spill) is that there will be some deep discounting going on there in April. I hope to see your sister around! Montpelier is a great little city - I hope you have visited or have plans to. The one antique shop in the main business section there is kind of a zero but it's a great place to buy books

Madame DeFarge said...

I'm pretty useless at identifying any china, although we lived near the Potteries for years. I should have taken more interest in what was around me, but my defence is that I was very young.

Those photos from the woods are wonderful, especially the one of your son running through the trees. It looks so beautiful and he looks so carefree.

uphilldowndale said...

My boy had a really hard time learning to read.
http://uphilldowndale.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/thats-my-boy/
Now he devours books, he just needed a little TLC

Catastrophe Waitress said...

the only dodgy phone calls i get are from Indian call centre staff telling me that i have won a holiday.

yeah right.

ps. i love your priorities
picnics over schoolwork
and antique shop investigations over credit card call centres.

Kim Velk said...

Hey Mrs. Uhdd. I am hoping daily that those synapses connect and he just "gets it" and one day soon I'll have a reader like yours.

Thanks for the support Projectivist. That beautiful jug just found a buyer on eBay and, assuming she pays, I am pretty close to break even and I had fun...