Friday, April 25, 2008

Tea Trivet Trivia



In my neck of the woods, we treasure hunters know that Spring has officially arrived when our mailboxes start seeing more of those little blue postcards from Collins and Wood, the well-known local appraisers who've long been known for staging estate sales. I've gotten several bargains at their sales over the years, so I was happy to see this blue postcard the other day.

I pulled up to the house Wednesday morning and didn't really pay attention to the exterior behind the sea of cars, so eager was I to find a parking place and get going. On a shelf outside the house, I found the wonderful handpainted tea trivet above, which will certainly go well with those violet dishes I got at the Carriage House a while back. I also found a nice quilting book, and only when I was leaving the house did it dawn on me: a friend of mine's mother used to live here before she moved to a retirement village, and I once wrote a newspaper feature about her quilts! I was so happy to realize she was the original owner of these great items.

Later, it occurred to me I have never mentioned my tea trivets, those lovely and quite utilitarian objects that keep teapots from scratching the dining or tea table while guests are using them at tea. If I don't have a teapot on some sort of elevated tray, I like to have it on a tea trivet (also known as a "tea tile"). I now have four, but only four, since I don't see these pieces at shops and sales very often. And now if you'll excuse me, my sweet husband has just loaned me some of his hard-earned cash so I can hit a multi-family yard sale on the way to work this morning. Maybe I'll find another tea trivet!



8 comments:

  1. How in the world did I miss this useful piece? Honestly I never knew of a tea trivet. It does seen very useful.

    I enjoyed seeing yours very much.

    Candyce

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  2. Angela, thank you so much for posting this bit of trivia; a friend just gave me a box full of old china and porceline, and a hand painted trivit was among them--I almost threw it out, not knowing what it was!! I marvel at your knowledge! Susan

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  3. What a pretty collection of tea trivets. Most of mine are more suited for using under hot casseroles. Do you hang your trivets as a wall grouping? I have one pretty Spode "Blue Room" trivet that I display with a collection of blue and white china.

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  4. As an English tea lover, I love your blog! It is wonderful :)
    I have added you to my blogroll here: http://bloomingathome.wordpress.com/
    I do hope you will come visit!
    AutumnRose x

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  5. Thanks for the interesting and new-to-me information about tea trivets. Best to you!

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  6. This is very pathetic, I know...I looked for tea trivets on the Internet and realized that I have one! It is shaped as a tea pot. All this time I thought it was just a regular trivet. Because it was shaped as a teapot I hung it in my kitchen.

    Because of your informative blog I now have a treasure I didn't even realize.

    Candyce

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  7. Those are gorgeous and something I don't have! Hmmm... ;-)

    And what a serendipitous story!

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  8. I love your trivets. Thanks for sharing.

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