QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Good Afternoon to you,

My word, for the past few days we have had the most glorious weather. The sun has been shining, the skies have been bright blue and  each day a new flower bud opens and my garden is suddenly a riot of colour..... all it needed was some warm weather to bring the garden to life.

Because the long range weather forecast was so promising, we were able to plan a trip to the Rugby Club Car Boot Sale.  We were up at six o'clock in the morning.... which is unheard of in this household and we were  out of the house by six forty five.

I have to say, I am always excited when I visit car boot sales, and do you know, I wake up five or six times during the night with excitement, as you never know what goodies are going to be there. 

I am a scanner when it comes to car boot sales, I have visited so many over the years, that I can spot a potential item a mile off..... alright that is a bit of an exaggeration, but  I don't have to stop at every stall to examine the items, as I know what I am looking for.

..... but it wasn't me who found the first item, it was George.  We always stop and rummage through boxes as that is often where the little treasures lie.  I was looking at a wooden cutlery holder, which looked as if it had been removed from the owner's drawer and brought straight to the car boot sale. Amongst the very old cutlery, were a pair of glasses, which somehow, made me feel very sad. It looked like an elderly lady had mistakenly placed her pink rimmed glasses, in the drawer and was unable to find them. Sadly, they never will be found.

As I was looking in my box, George called me over and look what he found,

This Queen Elizabeth II Coronation cup, saucer and tea plate.

This is the saucer, showing the date of the Coronation, June 2nd 1953.  It is interesting to see the date written this way, as nowadays we would write the date as 2nd June 1953.  If you would like to see the book about the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II please visit here.

The cup has the same amount of detail as the saucer.  When I picked up the cup, my thumb rested on the top of the handle, my forefinger through the handle and my middle finger rested underneath, now I know this is how most of us hold our cups, but the way this handle was designed made it really comfortable to hold.

Here you can see the gold rim which is on the lip of the cup. Considering this set is 60 years old the colours are still very vibrant, so I think it has been tucked away in someone's china cabinet.

Again, you can see the same detail on the tea plate. This tea plate is much smaller than the one's we use nowadays, I think it goes hand in hand with larger portions which we have available to us today.

You can see the detail of the handle more clearly in this photograph.

Of course, this dainty teacup, saucer and plate were never meant to be used on a daily basis, only on special occasions, but it was mainly bought as a commemorative set and would have been placed inside a china cabinet.  

Ivy, had a beautiful china cabinet and she had pieces, such as these, displayed behind the glass panes.  To Ivy, and to many women of her generation, their best china would have been placed inside the china cabinet, to be taken out and dusted each week, and then carefully replaced.  The china cabinet was always placed in the front parlour, a room, which was used for special occasions and for guests to enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of cake. The parlour was always pristine as it was only used now and again. I loved going into Ivy's front parlour as it was filled with so many interesting things, but of course I was never, ever, allowed to touch anything.

I do not have a china cabinet, but I will find a special place for this set, as after all, I am a Diamond Jubilee child.

We found quite a few lovely items, which I will show you later..... and it does include blue and white, which as you can imagine, I am thrilled about.


Have a lovely week and I will see you on Sunday.

This week I will be joining, 

Richella at Imparting Grace

and

Yvonne at Stonegable

and

Kate at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

and
Iris at Under My Tree