Nice One Me Ol' China

 Nice One Me Ol' China

I said in my profile and recent posts that I intended to cover one of the topics of interest to me and that is car boot sales. During my recent difficulties I was lucky enough to sometimes have enough money to attend quite a new one in Chelmsford that has quickly become very popular and successful.

I've found some really quite interesting bargains there and there is the usual mix of the public and traders to choose from. One word of caution though; be careful where you buy a burger from, you can get ripped off.

For years I have bought, sold and collected mostly antique china and have found some really nice and hard to find or replace pieces. One of the things that most attracts me to china is the remarkable skill that was present in its design, manufacture and artistry, often done by hand. There is an awful lot of it still around sometimes from 200 years ago or more and I like to imagine that at one time these items were very much cherished wedding gifts.

There was a plethora of manufacturers working, particularly in Stoke-on-Trent and many design archives still exist in the hands of the few remaining manufacturers.

Whilst browsing recently I spotted a lovely little vase that looked very fine to me made by Coalport; a brand which was known for quality and is now owned by Wedgwood.


It's about 4" tall and appears to be entirely hand decorated. Before moving on take a moment to look at it and consider the skill that went into hand painting the decoration and the thought that went into the design. 


There is often a lot of information about the age of a piece in the backstamp; this one looks to have been made around the turn of the 20th century and I paid just £4 for it. I want to keep it for many years and hope one day it falls into someone else's hands intact and they can similarly admire a fine example of our Midland's industrial heritage.

If I've piqued your interest in seeing many more pieces like this there is a Coalport museum at the original factory in Ironbridge near Telford in the beautiful County of Shropshire. You can get there by train in less than 3 hours from London Euston for around £50 return. I'm hoping to go there myself this summer.

This short post will lead me into my next post and how having the chance to do things I enjoy on a budget helped me start on the road to recovery.

Copyright ©️ Romford Rob Jackson 


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