Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Boxed Portmeirion

September 7, 2014 Lia

New Portmeirion ware comes in boxes.

Early Portmeirion boxes and packaging had drawings by Susan Williams-Ellis:

These boxes are rather tatty, but then they are about 40 years old.

Later boxes and packaging had a variety of colours:

Planters with advice as to which plants they were suitable for:

Shell dishes

The bathroom series had a set consisting of a soapdish and a beaker, beautifully packaged:

There were beautiful platters in half open boxes:

there were comports, the boxes suggesting all sorts of treats for festive occasions:

as well as suggestions for a party pile-up:

like this?

Lasagna dishes and flan dishes

Planters and small china boxes

Sweet dishes

Tea pot stands

Vases in all shapes and sizes

More and newer boxes to follow later

Miscellaneous, Sepia Prints

Sepia Prints

August 30, 2014 Lia

Where Did You Get That Hat was a popular song in the beginning of the twentieth century. Susan used the title for a range of sepia prints of ladies sporting dashing hats. The range was launched in 1970:

Including a coffee set with the iconic coffee pot:

Other items in the range were small cups:

dishes:

plates:

storage jars in various sizes:

cruet sets:

and all sorts of pots:

Another range of Sepia prints was Idols of the Stage:

In this range there were also various items, such as this gin bottle:

The images are of actors from an age long past:

They look great on a cruet set.

This actress would also look very well in the Where did you get that hat range.

The silent movies really come to life.

I keep on looking for items from this range.

Miscellaneous, Pomona

Pomona that isn’t Pomona

August 24, 2014 Lia

The Portmeirion Pomona range was launched in 1980, but before that Portmeirion had produced pottery with fruit motifs. This pottery usually has a mustard coloured backstamp.

Examples of this range are the 4 inch mug and the four oatmeals. These fruit motifs can still be found, there are six different fruits.

I have another set of cups and saucers with early fruit motifs, purchased on a Swedish flea market and then sold to me by a Swedish china collector:

They are lovely pictures:

They make a festive teatable

Even the butterflies love the fruit motifs

I have never seen these fruit motifs before, either on Portmeirion or any other pottery. But they add a touch of happiness to any teatable

Miscellaneous

Portmeirion Lanhydrock by Pat Albeck

July 6, 2014 Lia

Portmeirion produced the Lanhydrock range in the eighties.

On her own website the designer, Pat Albeck, writes:

“The Trust asked me to go to my favourite kitchen for inspiration for a new range. James McClaren was the architect of Lanhydrock (near Bodmin in Cornwall) and I think he must have really enjoyed designing the kitchen. It has an amazing and elaborate cast iron kitchen range. The pierced pattern on the oven door and the very simple dark red rope design which edged the white tiles, was my source of inspiration. I added a few chickens and copper pans on some of the pieces. This is my very favourite National Trust range.”

There are many different items in the range, but I have never seen a teapot. Are there any about?

The pattern looks really well on the dishes and plates:

Miscellaneous

Plant Pots

July 3, 2014 Lia

Botanic Garden always has had a great variety of planters and plant pots. Here are three small pots made for Kew Gardens:

These have the Forget Me Not, the Rhododendron and the Speedwell.

Here are my favourite 4 by 5 inch pots, with the original oatmeal motifs:

Thet are the Ivy Leafed Cyclamen, the Orchid, the Purple Iris, the Canterbury Bells, the Barbados Cotton Flower and the Orange Cactus.

Portmeirion also had boxed planters or cache pots, here seen with the Common Tomentil:

The backside of the box advised which plants they were meant for:

Here is a bell-shaped planter with the Trailing Bindweed:

Although many planters have the Botanic Garden motifs there are also Pomona planters, here seen with the Ingestrie Pippin, the Imperatrice Plum and the Red Currant:

and Birds of Britain planters, such as here with the Nuthatch:

The Spring Gentian can also be found on planters:

Miscellaneous

Rose and Passion Flower

July 3, 2014 Lia

In 1978 the Rose and Passion Flower range was launched. All items had the same motif, an eighteenth century watercolour:

There was a teaset as well:

Miscellaneous, Trials

Millennium Plates

July 3, 2014 Lia

Portmeirion produced the Millennium Collection in 1999 and 2000. Most items featured the new Portmeirion Rose, such as the dinner plate:

and a range of smaller plates, bowls and dishes:

Here is a 9 inch plate:

One Millennium plate comes from the Botanic Garden range and has the Garden Lilac:

There was a 13 inch platter, made exclusively for Debenhams, featuring the Lily Flowered Azalea, with the green Botanic Garden border. Mine is a trial, with a gold border:

Here is the backstamp:

Miscellaneous

Spice Jars

June 8, 2014 Lia

There is a set of 25 Spice Jars, that go well with the classic ranges such as Botanic Garden, Pomona and Birds of Britain.

Here are the latest additions, there are now 24 different jars in my collection, one jar to go!

They are lovely little pots, with the spices depicted on the front and a description of history and use on the back:

They have their own backstamp

Botanic Garden, Miscellaneous

Portmeirion Thimbles

May 28, 2014 Lia

In 1985 Portmeirion, commissioned by the Thimble Collectors Club, produced a trial thimble, featuring the Heartsease.
The following year a collection of twelve different Botanic Garden thimbles were made exclusively for the TCC.

The Thimble Collectors Club no longer exists, and it is said that only very few sets of twelve are now known to be in the possession of Portmeirion collectors.

In this set of sixteen you can see: Common Tomentil, Spring Gentian, Red Star, Orchid, Ivy Leafed Cyclamen, Broom (2 versions), Rhododendron, Barbados Cotton Flower, Speedwell (2 versions), Honeysuckle, Forget Me Not, Daisy, Scarlet Pimpernel and Heartsease.

Miscellaneous

A Portmeirion kitchen

May 27, 2014 Lia

When our old kitchen was falling apart, after many years of faithful service, we had a new one installed last year. We decided that apart from being beautiful and practical, it had to be Portmeirion. This is it:

It took me quite a while to get enough wall tiles together: