A Fun August 1st

Yesterday afternoon an estate sale email was in my inbox.  As I checked the listings I noticed Allison's Magnificient Obcession was having a sale in Warren only a couple of miles from my house.  I scrolled through the photos of items for sale and saw some that interested me.  So this morning I put my cereal in a rubbermaid container and headed off to the sale at 8:30 a.m.  It didn't start until 10:00 a.m. but I wanted to get a low number for entrance into the house.

To my amazement I was the first person/car there.  I got #1.  It's the first time that's ever happened because usually many people are there ahead of me.

The main item that piqued my interest was Minton china's Hadden Hall pattern.  The Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara on the Lake used this china for their Afternoon Tea service when we visited in 2006.  I saw a teacup and saucer in the sale photos and thought it would be a nice keepsake from our trip.  11-pieces were available [teacup not visible in Internet photo].

The price was $89 for the set [which was reasonably priced], but I didn't need or want the six pieces shown in the front two rows of the above photo.  I asked the lady at the cash register [Allison] if I could just purchase the teapot, cream & sugar and teacup/saucer and leave the other pieces.  She said I could for $69. Needless to say I took them and immediately went on eBay when I got home to check pricing [not that I plan to sell them].  The teapot ranged from $70 up to $161 plus shipping, the cream & sugar was $58 plus shipping, and the teacup/saucer varied from $12 to the high $20's plus shipping.  I got a bargain!

Here's a photo of the set after I got home and washed it.  

It's safely displayed in my china cabinet and I ordered a luncheon plate from eBay [for $10 plus shipping] so I'd have a trio.

The sale was mostly dishes and glassware, and since I'm a sucker for themed holiday dishes I also bought 10 fun Halloween plates, and left plenty of other cute ones behind for someone else.  I always dress for the various holidays at work, so I couldn't resist the black-beaded candy corn necklace.

Everything was so reasonably priced and I was sorely tempted by the Royal Albert black floral series teacups at $15 each but I restrained myself.  I'll probably hate myself later!

There were also quite a few Shelley teacups in various patterns for $15 and demitasse size for $12.  I had to exercise willpower to leave those behind too.

I left feeling August was off to a very good start.  I hope it's been good for you too!