Resale and Antique Treasures from Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

I'm sad this is the last post pertaining to my recent trip to Wilmington, Delaware.  I've had a lot of fun sharing all the details of the trip with you, and I hope you've enjoyed it too.

We checked out of our motel right after breakfast on Saturday, September 13th, and headed back to nearby Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania to visit some antique malls that had been recommended. We always break for places that look interesting, and one was the Encore Consignment/Resale Shop. They're open September thru June, and the 13th was their first Saturday open for the new 2014-15 season. All proceeds benefit the Chester County Hospital, and the majority of their inventory is household items.  

My hubby will soon begin renovating our living room, and part of the plans are a wall of shelves to display my blue and white china.  [I'll be blogging about the project with before and after photos.]  I probably have more than enough blue and white dishes to fill the shelves, but I noticed two pieces at Encore that I liked, and since they were both reasonably priced [$4.00 each], they came home with me.  The porcelain piece below is unmarked. 

A Johnson Brothers blue transferware plate.

From the Encore shop we drove to the Brandywine River Antiques Market. 

I collect porcelain ramekins, so the blue and white one [below] caught my eye.  It was just $13, so it came home with me too.  

It had a backstamp I didn't recognize until I returned home and read a September 14th post at Antiques and Teacups blog.  Ruth is an antique dealer, and her posts are always so informative. She stated Noritake Company began as Morimura Company in Japan in 1876. They've had several different backstamps over the years. The M backstamp [for Morimura] could be found until 1934, and after that the company began using Noritake as their backstamp.  Based on her information I now know the origin of my ramekin, and that it's at least 80 years old.

Our last stop was at Pennsbury-Chadds Ford Antique Mall.  Don't be fooled by the beautiful blue sky in the photo below.  It was actually pouring down rain!  The photo is from the mall's Facebook page.  The antique mall is large with an upper and lower level.  I didn't purchase anything, but Linda and Barb about lost their minds [and pocketbooks] at a silver booth on the lower level.

Anything made in silver Inslee Antique Dealers are likely to have it!  I've never seen so many unique, hard-to-find pieces of silver in one place... Victorian ice cream forks and sippers, mote spoons, tea strainers, and on and on.  Linda was thrilled to find a lettuce fork.

The clock was approaching the time we needed to head back to Wilmington for our Afternoon Tea at Winterthur, so we didn't have time to look at every booth in the mall, but if we ever return to the area it will be on our list of places to revisit.

Two Teas in One Day!

On day #4 of our trip we returned to nearby Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania traveling over narrow, shoulderless, curvy, hilly, rural-like roads, and the quaintest covered bridge to get to Special Teas Tea Room for 11:30 a.m. reservations.  The tea room was established in 1998, and is located in Olde Ridge Village shopping complex.

Entrance door is on the right. 

~ Retail area of the tea room ~

~ Dining Area ~

The tea room uses Minton china in the Haddon Hall pattern.

~ Our foursome ~

[L-R:  Me, Lori, Barb, and Linda]

Melissa was our friendly server. The two black teas we ordered were Manhatten Earl Grey, and Raspberry.   Tea strainers were used since the tea wasn't decanted before it was brought to our table.

We ordered lite since we also had 3:00 p.m. reservations for Afternoon Tea at Hotel du Pont in downtown Wilmington.  We all got a bowl of Roasted Red Pepper soup with Smoked Gouda cheese. It was delicious.

And a black currant scone to go with our tea. 

I bought a blue toile tea cozy in the gift shop, since we will soon be redecorating our living room using blue toile wallpaper.

Then it was time to head back to the motel to change clothes, and get ready for Afternoon Tea at the du Pont Hotel - tomorrow's post.   I could easily get accustomed to this lifestyle! ;-)

Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

Chadds Ford is in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in "Brandywine Country" - about 12 miles from Wilmington, Delaware.  Susanna [at Rosemary House] told us a tea room was there, so we were eager to find it. It was after 4:00 p.m. when we arrived, and the tea room had closed for the day, but it looked charming enough for us to decide we would return another day.

While still in Chadds Ford, we stopped for gasoline where I spotted a Talbot's store in the shopping center across the street from the gas station.  Having read Linda J's Friendship Tea blog post on September 8th about the teacup sweater in Talbot's catalog, I asked if we could go in the store. [F.Y.I. - I strongly debated whether I should title this post "Linda made me do it!" ;-)]

They did indeed have the beautiful navy blue teacup sweater, and when I tried it on, I knew it was coming home with me.  The teacups aren't appliques, they're woven into the fabric.

As you can see, I was very pleased with my purchase!

You'd think with everything we ate at Sweet Remembrances earlier in the day we wouldn't be the least bit hungry, but we worked up an appetite shopping and riding in the car!  We spotted a Ruby's Diner in the shopping center parking lot, and decided to have dinner there before checking into our hotel in Newark, New Jersey Delaware [a joke between our foursome!].  

Have you ever eaten in a Ruby's?  There are none in Michigan, so we found the 1940's retro atmosphere with red vinyl booths, white Formica tables, soda fountains, and colorful poster art fun and nostalgic.  

[Internet Photo]

We gave the first day of our trip a five star rating as we snuggled into our beds that night, and were filled with anticipation over the next day's itinerary - Winterthur Museum.

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Today I'm joining Bernideen's Tea Time blog for Friends Sharing Tea