Sunday, February 27, 2011

Consider the Saucer

Over the years I have collected quite a few antique saucers.  Most date from the late eighteenth century through the first half of the nineteenth century and were made of porcelain in Europe or China for domestic use or export.  In most cases they were separated from their matching cups long before I bought them.

Collecting antique saucers can become rather
addicting, and it is easy soon to find oneself
with stacks and stacks of them!

I have collected antique saucers because they are pretty and also because they are usually affordably priced.  I have bought ones at junk and thrift stores for as little as fifty cents a piece and at specialist ceramics dealers for as much as several hundred dollars.  In general, though, I've paid much less than a hundred dollars a saucer for most of them.  These days I rarely buy any more for my collection because I already have so many of them that I find it difficult to justify adding to the stacks.

A saucer is a most convenient place to rest one's
flute of champagne . . .

I have collected saucers not just for their beauty and price, but also because I like to use them.  Not for their original purpose, though, of holding a cup of hot tea or coffee.  I have placed them on almost every end table in our house, both in the public rooms and in the bedrooms, where they are an attractive and useful alternative to plebeian coasters.  We have several of them sitting on chests of drawers, too, to catch keys, loose change, matchbooks, and the little odds and ends that one finds in one's pockets.  They are the perfect size for serving cocktail-hour nibbles.  When we set votive candles in a group of them along the dinner table they create the most attractive uplighting on our guests.  We also use them as dishes for small topiaries and to hold soap in bathrooms.  Sometimes we even use them as ashtrays when the rare friends who still smoke visit us.  Even though we gave up the habit years ago, we might occasionally join our friends in a cigarette or two—at least if we've been consuming cocktails during their visit, which is a pretty good bet around here.

. . . and so very handy for holding
one's keys and pocket incidentals, too!

Over time I plan on doing a number of posts featuring some of our prettier saucers.  My goal in doing so is that I hope it will give you pleasure to see them, Dear Reader, and also because I hope that it will inspire you to build a collection of your own—that is if you haven't one already—and to use them as we do at Darlington House.

Photographs by Boy Fenwick

25 comments:

  1. There's a wonderful Italian word for this last shown function, a container for the contents of your pocket: una svuotatasca!

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  2. What fabulous alternative uses you have shared, I can't wait to read other suggestions!! Thanks for the inspiration.. I know I will certainly be looking at the odd saucers a little more carefully ...HHL

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  3. Wonderful! I have some as well - not as many or as beautiful. I also have some small silver ones, which are not as practical because they are not large enough to accommodate some of the bases of my glasses. But - what I really want to know is where the splendid champagne flute is from!!

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  4. Dearest R, I am so delighted to read that you do not have coasters at Darlington House. I feared that it might be an area of disagreement between us....but no, as usual we are in complete agreement where those hideous wooden/ glass/leather/plastic objects are concerned.

    And, what marvellous uses you show here for your delightful saucers. I look forward to reading more!

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  5. I agree, Reggie. I love using "odd" saucers for votives and soap, especially. They also work well for a casual night if you are serving a selection of dips or a variety of toppings. (Although I can't imagine Taco Night at Darlington House!)

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  6. What a novel collection and what a good use for them. I HATE coasters -- (especially those "cutesy" ones that one finds everywhere) -- and what a great solution to coasters. In fact, I may have just started a collection -- my new Old Paris saucers and cups don't match up and I have a few saucers left over! I think I may put those out and about as coasters!

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  7. Fun collection! I like to see a collection put to everyday use and enjoyed in life. ~ Sarah

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  8. What a wonderful idea. I am not sure I have ever known anyone with taste as good as your. Except perhaps my mother, of course.

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  9. Very much looking forward this this new series, Reggie. My first encounter with a saucer, as far as I remember, was watching in wonderment as my grandfather drank his tea from his saucer - a survival from the early days in tea drinking in the West. I was never allowed to do as he did.

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  10. Brilliant usage....they are attractive. As an antique hound myself (my parents had an antique stall at 2 places in Lancaster County) I have scored a few like items for various uses.

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  11. I have lost count of how many exquisitely pretty saucers I have sold in the last 25 years--and as you say, rarely over 50 dollars for even fine ones. Decorative, useful, pleasing. Sadly, as taste has swung away from such good early china, and the sorts of highly fashionable ladies I sold them to for a generation have gone, the market has declined. truly a pity. Let's hope this post creates a revival.

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  12. lovely champagne flute

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  13. Reggie, you never cease to amaze me. When I think there are no new tricks, you invent one. I can't wait to see your collection and learn more about the clever and beautiful ways to use saucers. Love this blog!

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  14. MD loathed coasters and thought people who made a fuss about their furniture were pretentious. I like your solution.

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  15. I, too, collect saucers. Too many are now shards, however, that I cannot bear to part with and hope to someday restore. (The story is too sad to repeat).

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  16. Thanks for a delightful posting. I too use a saucer to hold my keys - it's an elegant solution to something that can otherwise look junky. I look forward to your season of saucers!

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  17. Dear Reggie, your saucers are absolute beauties. I love the idea of using them for glasses of Champagne, much more attractive than a coaster.

    I've bought various pieces of china and have managed to match up odd pieces on Ebay very successfully.

    Have a great week xx

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  18. Oh dear somebody that has the same sort of collecting tastes as myself! I started collecting saucers years ago, sometimes in the hope of finding cups to match. My grandmother however curbed my enthusiasm one day by telling me that it was always the cups that were broken first. As of consequence, I am now happy with what I have!

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  19. That's it, I'm no longer going to drink after 10.

    I give up. Really.

    I got up this morning, did my ritual ablutions, and by and by turned on the computer. After a shaky moment, I reached for the ancestral Knickerbocker snuffbox which holds all those ivory toothpicks, and pulled out the two which seemed most capable of holding up my eyelids until the fog cleared.

    Then, foolishly, I logged onto Reggie's dark domain.

    As best as my poor eyes could make out, it was Consider the Souser

    And then I glanced down, as best I could, and saw that first picture, and all at once the fog cleared:

    Reggie's done a post on Martinis and sporting clays?

    Brilliant! Simply brilliant!

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  20. The dining room table at the Lodge in Van Rensselaer is never covered with a cloth, so nothing goes on it without a plate or, more often, a saucer beneath it. There are stacks of them in the kitchen; the cheaper ones adorn the low wainscotted walls of the breakfast nook, fancier ones back up the collection of creamers in the set-back cabinet. The rarest Gaudy Dutch saucers are safely ensconced in the Pennsylvania Dutch corner cupboard. The only saucers we don't have are the flying variety.

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  21. What a sensational idea! Thank you!

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  22. I have a few stacks of antique saucers, myself. I also have a stack of charming random stoneware diner saucers.

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  23. Ah yes! I was just appreciating a pair of Whooping Cranes dancing on tip toe; the saucer is on my desk. I am loathe to put anything on them...Same goes for two lovely oriental ladies
    deep in conversation. I can and do applaud these
    - while deploring clutter. How about pitchers ?

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  24. I also love using orphan saucers as candle holders. They also make lovely soap dishes.

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  25. The glass with water in it is beautiful. I love the shape of it. So unique.

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