Thrifty Vintage Finds

New Tablescaping Finds!

I am so excited about this pretty set of dishes!

You are very likely to see these turn up in a Tablescape in the near future.

My Daughter who lives in Illinois is always on the lookout for dishes, for her addicted mother. You might say she feeds my addiction. She recently found this delicately beautiful set at one of her favorite haunts.
The dishes are Taylor Smith Taylor and the pattern is "Celeste".

The Taylor, Smith & Taylor Pottery was founded in 1899 by C. A. Smith and Col. John N. Taylor, using the facilities of the Taylor, Smith & Lee Pottery.   TS&T began operations as a nine-kiln pottery employing approximately 50 people.  In the early days of production only local clays were used.  Later, TS&T bought clay from Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida.  TST´s plant was the largest and most automated in the United States.  More than 50,000 dozen pieces were produced per week by the firm´s 500 employees.
In 1903 the Taylor interests were purchased by W. L. Smith and his son.  The firm remained under the Smith ownership and management until early 1973 when the plant was purchased by Anchor Hocking Corporation to become the foundation of its Pottery Division.
For many years both earthenware and fine china bodies were used.  The Lu Ray Pastels was one of TS&T most popular lines.  The china body was discontinued in the early 1970´s.  TS&T closed in 1981.
Source: Robbins Nest Replacement Service

This china is whiter than in this pic.
It is a clean white with little grey/silver swirls and blue dots as stylized flowers and platinum trim.

Isn't this the sweetest little cup and saucer. Kinda of prissy, I think!
The six piece place settings will be very versatile.

This is the basic place setting.

 It appears this was originally a service for twelve. Some of the cups are missing and one has a small chip. I will use that one if necessary.  Do you ever do that? Discretely use the chipped or imperfect dish?
There are twelve dinner plates and fifty-five pieces in all.
The price was $28.00 total. Thrifty deal, don't you think? Kim is a great little shopper. Her mama taught her well.

If you are not already doing this, use cheapo paper plates for dish protectors. Works great, costs less and if you break the dishes you can eat out of the paper plates. No Waste!
Recently I purchased this beautiful stemware through Ebay.

I was looking for something delicate and etched. I took a chance on these because the pictures on Ebay showed up as being very cloudy. After some messaging with the seller I decided to take a chance. I think they are awesome!

Because I was still antsy, I purchased the water goblets, white wines and cordials. I passed on the tall sherbet/champagnes. My mistake. 

The water goblets and the wines have a flower, wispy leaf stem and little round dots/berries. I think they match the china beautifully. The cordials are a little different pattern.

The seller didn't know the pattern nor did I. I sent a photo to Replacements Ltd. and they sent me the name of the maker, pattern and price list. I did GOOD! I bought eight each of the water goblets and wines for $5.00 each and the cordials were seven for $5.99. This seller's shipping was nominal. Less than gas for a day of thrifting.
The manufacturer is Arcadia Export-Import and the pattern is "Orlean". This pattern was discontinued in 1951. Some information says it is German and some sources listed Hungary.
Replacements lists the water goblet at more than three times what I paid.

I have some other vintage goodies around the house, including me. I will use those to create a "Thrifty Vintage Tablescape" coming soon. 
I hope you enjoyed your visit. Please leave a comment.


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