Monday 11 January 2010

Bargain Time .......by Gay S

At first glance it may seem that these pieces have nothing in common, apart from all being of Quimper manufacture, but they all come under the heading of bargains and show that sometimes if you keep your eyes open you can find things at very reasonable prices






For 3 or More Tuesday hosted by Tam @The Gypsy's Corner and Vintage Thingie Thursday a great meme found over at The Colorado Lady Suzanne's place,



I wanted to show you some of my collection of vintage pieces.


Please do go and visit these great blogs to discover more interesting collections and vintage items.

I have had the little Keraluc figure, above, for several years. I found her at a flea market and bought her from a couple of stall holders I knew very well (and they knew I collected Quimper). They always had interesting but cheap items so they were a magnet for the dealers. This little lady was on the top shelf of their display – when I asked to see her the stall holder admired her but assured me she was Greek, he had been to Greece for a holiday and remembered ‘Ker’ is used in the Greek language. The price was just £1. The amusing thing was that no matter what I said the dealer maintained his stance – he just never believed that Keraluc has anything to do with Quimper…



The shell dish I found this year: there is an antique centre about a mile away which is situated in the premises of an old abattoir, if you look up you can see it still has all the rails and hooks. It’s not very upscale but one dealer does like to sell French items and on this particular day we had found an old French glass kitchen measure (my husband has a small collection of old glass measures). I went to the office to pay and my husband spotted the little dish, it was filthy and covered in dust but it was only £5 and I just couldn’t leave it there, unloved. I just had to rescue it!
The décor is Ivoire Corbeille (we will be featuring this décor in the Clubs Spring/Summer Journal so please contribute photo's if you have any) and I suspect the lady is from Normandy.


The third piece we found recently in the local Oxfam (charity) shop, at just 99p we could hardly pass it by, could we? And it has been a useful serving piece over Christmas.



The fourth piece was more of a struggle to obtain. Again it’s a flea market purchase.


One dealer (who I knew from his other auction house job) had a specific routine – he stood in the middle of a square of tables and as he unpacked his boxes we used to grab what we were interested in, then when he had finished he would come to each of us and price our pile of items and we’d have a little haggle – when he got to know you he would often try to make sure you got first chance of anything in your area of interest – this being a blue plate it was ‘given’ to the lady who specialised in blue plates. Sometimes things would be rejected as too dear or damaged, but the ‘blue plate lady’ wanted this piece so she paid £5. About a month later I offered her 100% profit and the plate was mine……a good price for an Yvain piece!

17 comments:

  1. Gay, I wish I could go shopping with you. Those items are just not to be had here, that I have found. You are in such close proximity to France, many things come over to the UK, I'm sure.

    Your did get some terrific buys. I am happy for you.

    Have a great day!

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  2. beutiful dishes I love them all the blue is a suprising plus to the beautiful dish

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  3. Before I started reading blogs I had never even heard of this collectible. Now I have seen it on a few blogs. Learn something new all the time.

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  4. Gay, You are right that if you're on the ball, you can sometimes make a deal! I was at an auction in December where there was a Quimper service for sale. After nobody would bid on the whole service, the auctioneer split it up. The couple behind me bought a lot of several serving pieces, and the auctioneer threw in an odd lid. I turned around and asked the man if he wanted the lid, and he said no, so I whipped out 5 euros and handed it to him. What a deal for everybody - I got a lid for my lid collection (my mother told me long ago to always buy lids!), and he saved 50% on the purchase of his lot!

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  5. The blue is stunning. Wow!

    happy vtt!

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  6. I'm not familiar with those things, but I think they are pretty and I love bargains.

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  7. What beautiful, beautiful pieces you have. You really found some great items at a really good price. I love the bright blues,

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  8. Your handled tray is very pretty.

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  9. Wonderful pieces! The little figure is just priceless!

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  10. Such wonderful pieces. I think that sweet little dish is my favorite, but they're all beautiful.

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  11. You've certainly proved that bargains can really be found! I like the little Keraluc figure the best. She is so sweet!
    Happy VTT!
    Carol

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  12. I have been to Quimper and never knew about collecting the pottery from the town! If i go again i will try and buy some!

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  13. Hi Gay, I was so glad to see you the VTT list. It's been awhile since I visited your Quimper blog, and I've missed you. This is my first time on VTT and I've had a wonderful day visiting all the interesting collections of vintage Thingies! Of course I love your collection and I think of what you showed today my favorite is the Shell Dish! The design is so detailed and I do like shells. Hope you get a chance to run by and see my Head Vases.

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  14. Thank you for the lesson. I had never heard of the company either. I really like all the pieces but especially the tray.

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  15. These are beautiful, and quiet a lesson too. The colors are amazing...Happy VTT!

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  16. Such nice pieces. Nice to learn more about quimper.

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  17. A neighbor who knows I collect Quimper, recenlty brought me a pretty little heart...signed HB/Henriot...which she found at Goodwill for
    99cents!

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