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June 6, 2010

Vintage Beswick Beauty

Living in the mayhem that is my home-life…

  • Never ending (or starting?!) renovations in our basement that mean that my dining room remains a catch-all for tools and other (speaking politely just for you) “stuff” that will eventually live downstairs,
  • Furniture that doesn’t fit our little house AND a hubby who won’t let me spend money to purchase furnishings for these rooms making it challenging (at the very least) to decorate the few rooms that we’ve renovated.

…saps all of the energy and enthusiasm out of me to make do with what we DO have!

ARGH!

Speaking of what we do have…

Yesterday, when Brian and I were organizing our attic (a mega-huge and phenomenal storage space – the perfect kind of place for special things to get forgotten), he came across this jug… sitting out of its box just waiting to fall and be broken:

DSCF0629

DSCF0632It’s a mid-30s Art Deco/Arts & Crafts influenced Beswick Ware pottery jug, shape 119 standing about 11” high to the spout, handed down to me from my Grandmother through my Mom… and I adore it!!

It’s so weird… I have no memory of this piece in my Grandma’s home. And after she passed away, I have no memory of this jug sitting in my Mom’s home. For the last 5 years of her life my Mom lived with me. As hard as I’ve tried, I can’t remember this jug in OUR home either! The only thing I can figure is that it was tucked away in a box somewhere, safe until the day when I would discover it and love it.

It wasn’t until my Mom passed away about 6 years ago that, when I was going through her things and making decisions about what goes where, I finally found this beauty along with a little treasure trove of other special pieces.

My wonderful antique Beswick jug had a lovely place to sit in my first home with Brian. But when we moved to our sweet little house a little over 2 years ago my special jug got packed away into the attic; safe and sound, away from all the renovation chaos!!

Somehow though – yesterday - there was my lovely jug sitting ON TOP of a box in the attic! I would have been heart broken if it had fallen and broken!!

I can only think that the reason the jug was sitting out was because I was supposed to bring it downstairs where it could be enjoyed.

Which is exactly what I did!

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Right now it’s sitting on my mantle. I guess I have to start decorating so that I can find a more permanent place for it!!

sigv

7 comments:

Christy said...

Oh this brought tears to my eyes Victoria. What a treasure - so glad you found it before it broke! Can't wait to see photos of it in it's forever spot!

Laura Trevey said...

It is always exciting finding treasures that you already had!!

xoxo Laura

Marcus Design said...

Wow, that's amazing that you just found it sitting there waiting for you!! Such a pretty piece, I love all of the colors, I can see why you fell in love with it at first sight! And how special that it has been passed down :)
Nancy

Shannon @ What's Up Whimsy said...

What a great find! And so sweet that it is a family heirloom. I'm sure it looks right at home on your mantel.

Unknown said...

What a unique piece of pottery! And the best part is that it has a story. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I'm sure it will find a glorious place in your home...eventually. And who knows? Maybe someday you'll *remember* seeing it somewhere in your mother's or grandmother's home. If not, maybe you can just imagine its previous life. ;)

Unknown said...

I have a sweet piece as well. This special piece is to remind you of where you've been. In a long line of art appreciation families who will always have a "special"
place in the world. Sharing special stories like this one a blogpost at a time.

Bette

qerat said...

Lovely story
It is a beautiful piece especially the shape of the handle

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