A fun find at an antique mall

Earlier this week, I was returning home from a day trip and decided to stop by an antique mall in LaGrange, a town about 40 miles south of my home in Newnan. I had less than an hour before the store closed for the day, so I quickly zipped through the shop. In one room, some china and ceramic pieces were actually tucked beneath a dresser or some piece of furniture (risky, I thought!), and that’s where I spotted what I immediately recognized as a vintage chintz piece.

This heavy tray, which was marked $25, is designed to hold a breakfast set. I’ve never owned a vintage breakfast set, one of those charming pieces with a small teapot, teacup, sugar and creamer, and toast rack. But not long ago, I read online about a woman who collects these sets inexpensively by gathering them a piece at a time instead of spending hundreds of dollars on the completed set.

The pattern is by Wade Heath of England, and as best I can tell, it’s called Butterfly Chintz. The only matching piece currently on eBay is the small teapot, but it’s in Canada, where the shipping and import fees make it out of my budget. But that’s okay, because I think the tray is pretty on its own, and I’m curious to see how long it will take me to collect all the pieces that go on it. Fingers crossed!