Sunday 19 June 2016

Empty bottles


Ok, I admit it. I got a bit drunk last night and posted up Kid Creole and the Coconuts singing, 'Annie, I'm not your daddy'. I had forgotten that today is Father's day, so there was no message in it.

I turned on the Bose speakers and blasted it out a few times at full volume, which pissed-off H.I. so much that she shut me in the room with the doors closed. I have never met our transitory neighbours - any of them - but the last time I caught a glimpse, they were Chinese students, so unlikely to complain.

You can always tell when I have had one glass of wine too many, because I play loud music. If I have two too many, I post it up on the blog, imagining that you will all be singing along with me in the middle of the night, no matter where you live.

Today, I am hangover-free, which is getting away with it in my book, especially since I hardly ate anything for dinner.

On impulse, I bought the above Wedgwood bottle at the flea market. My mother loved Wedgwood jasper ware, and I can sort of understand that. I am just impressed with the detail and technique, but I would never consider having it permanently around the house, so it is on eBay and someone has already bid it up to 99p! I paid £15 for it. eBay is a little form of fun-sized gambling for me - another escape from reality.

As usual, I put it up for auction first and did the research afterwards. There is absolutely no point in placing the start-bid at what you think it is worth, then expecting someone to buy it. What attracts people who know more about an item than you do, is the chance of a bargain. It only takes two such people to bid it right up.

I knew this bottle was made for a distillery in London called Humphrey Taylor and Co. because it is stamped on the base, along with Wedgwood as the maker's name. I thought that it looked to date from about 1910, and this turned out to be right.

By far the most interesting bit of information I gleaned from the net this morning was this fact: The Taylor distillery in London was sold as a private house fairly recently - to Nigella Lawson and her  erstwhile violent husband, Saatchi!


18 comments:

  1. Many years ago, I encountered Kid Creole walking along my street, straw hat and all. I always wondered whom he might have been visiting.

    Same thought some years later when I encountered Quentin Crisp walking along the same sidewalk.

    Hoping that the Wedgwood auction goes well for you.

    Best wishes.

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    1. Thousands of ex art students met Quentin Crisp when he was in London. Either you live in a really good neighbourhood, or a really bad one!

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    2. I liked the neighborhood more before it got so expensive, homogenized and pasteurized. The Park's still good to visit, Monday through Friday.

      Best wishes.

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    3. I liked the neighborhood more before it got so expensive, homogenized and pasteurized. The Park's still good to visit, Monday through Friday.

      Best wishes.

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  2. If I remember correctly, Wedgwood's daughter, Suki, married Charles Darwin. Of course, I wasn't around then.

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  3. It's got to be said ...... It's rather phallic !!! XXXX

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    1. Here we go.... You show me yours, and I'll show you mine. Deal?

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  4. It looks like a home for a very English genie.

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  5. Whenever I have something to sell on eBay, my son in law handles it for me. He's a top rated seller and I'm nobody, so he tells me. He also knows all the tricks about what time to post it and when the auction should end. Every summer I vow that I am going to start doing it for myself. Then I lug a car full of treasures to Goodwill and that's that. Really must learn. Keep us posted on the Wedgwood.

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    1. I used to time the beginning and end of sales, and manually bid on things too, leaving until the last 2 seconds to press the button. That became too stressful, and I lost a few things by pressing the wrong button with no time left to correct it, so now it's Snipe only. If I really want something, I leave a bid which I think nobody else will match, and the bid is placed 8 seconds before end of sale, leaving manual bidders plenty of time to upgrade their bid by a pound or two, but usually never more than that.

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  6. I've never been a fan of Jasper Ware. My people had a HUGE blue/white Stilton container which they never used; even so it stank of old cheese.

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    1. Functional jasper ware is much worse than purely decorative, I think. I also hate containers which state the obvious by having words like 'cheese' printed on the outside.

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  7. I love Wedgwood too (though I always have a funny feeling at my teeth when looking at it - can't explain, the texture of Wedgwood is strange, though I don't bite it :-) On one little vase the Master craftsman signed that profession + his name in gold (we were allowed to watch him making it). I'm seldom at Ebay, but your analysis of the bidders' thrill of the chase makes sense to me.

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    1. I understand that sensation caused by the texture of the porcelain. It is so hard, that they use it for sharpening knives.

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    2. Actually, they make knives from it these days.

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