When the Thrifty Buys Come Home In Bloomingdale's Shopping Bags. . . .

When your treasures come home in a Bloomingdale's shopping bag. . .


. . . you know you've been to a pretty sweet rummage sale!


Twice a year, spring and fall, the Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills holds a massive rummage sale: 75-thousand square feet of stuff, at The Fairgrounds at Far Hills.

The VNA serves communities in Somerset and Morris Counties in New Jersey, and the rummage sales support their mission. Set-up begins in early April, and the sale opens the first Friday in May. It's a worthy cause and a thrifter's dream come true.

Howard and I, foiled on Saturday in our plans to dig the vegetable garden by a steady drizzle, went for our first-ever visit. (Thanks, Mother Nature, for that rain; good timing!)

So for Blue Monday, hosted by Sally at her Smiling Sally Blog (visit here for more Blue Monday posts) and also for Today's Thrifty Treasures, hosted by Rhoda at Southern Hospitality (click here for more thrilling thrifting!), I'm going to share one of my VNA purchases.

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I love cobalt blue.
I especially love cobalt blue when it's paired with gleaming gold.

At the VNA sale, there is a social hierarchy amongst the offered goods.

Items donated by the local commoners are either out in the open or under tents. For items donated by the local fox hunting set -- there is the Bon Ton. The Bon Ton are two little gray buildings at the edge of the sale.

Mecca.

I didn't bother with the Bon Ton building that held the designer duds; I focused on the Bon Ton with the china and crystal and silver, where I just knew that something was waiting to come home with me!

I resisted an enormous Baccarat vase for $300. It was a struggle, but I prevailed.
And I saw these:

Tea cups with saucers.
Six of them, in perfect condition. They are lustreware:

The saucers are reticulated:

Hey! There's my thumb!

I have a fondness for reticulated borders; my mother wove grosgrain ribbon through the pierced borders of milk glass plates, and hung them in my bedroom when I was a little girl. Early imprinting.

The cups are wide, shallow and footed,


with handles clearly not meant for a man's fingers!

See-through porcelain, delicate and thin:

Random fact: Porcelain got its name from the Italian word for the cowrie shell -- Porcellana -- and may have been named by Marco Polo. The cowrie shell got its name from the Latin for pig: porcus. The connection? Porcelain was so named because of its resemblance to the smooth whiteness of the shell, and the shell was so named because its rounded shape resembled a little piggy's back.

I have no idea if this is true, but I swear
I didn't just now make it up.

In March, I lamented that I didn't have any tea cups that could hold their own with my Meissen cobalt and gold teapot. (Here)

Well, now I do.

I see a Tablescape in the future for these little fellas, don't you?

This mark is on all the pieces:

Tariff rules changed in 1921, and goods imported to the USA had to be marked with "made in" and the country of origin in English. So, these cups are probably from after 1920, which makes sense... most Japanese lustreware was made in the 1920s through the 30s.

I have no idea if these cups are 80 years old, or 8 years old. Doesn't matter. I like 'em. They are so exuberant.

(I don't know why the blue looks black in these pictures; it is a very dark blue.)

Were they a bargain? Who knows? We paid $30 for the 6 sets; $5 each set. (Howard has reminded me that I said, upon setting out from That Old House that morning, "I won't spend more than $25.")

So . . . now I have to decide where to keep the little dears. I think I need another breakfront, #3, or maybe a corner cabinet for the dining room. Yeah, a corner cabinet; that's the ticket!

Tomorrow -- the rest of my VNA sale finds, including Howard's personal pick. It's a varied catch -- think: hotel plate, ruby flash, a bit more lustre. . . and not everything came from the Bon Ton!
-- Cass