Precious Moments Figurines and Dolls

Sam Butcher along with a friend started a company with his line of inspirational greeting cards and posters. The company was called Jonathan and David and featured the artwork that Sam Butcher is famous for now …. his tear-drop eyed Precious Moments kids. This was in the
early 1970s.

Shortly after, Sam was approached by Enesco Corporation to develop figurines based on his artwork.
By the end of 1978 the first twenty-one original Precious Moments figurines were unveiled and introduced for the gift industry. Sam always kept touch with his original beliefs of creating art to combine his emotions with his abiding faith – a message of loving, caring and sharing.

I have the above two early figurines available in my Etsy store along with the beautiful Precious Moments 13 inch doll … the Voice of Spring.

In 1989 the Precious Moments Park in Cathage Missouri opened and has had approximately 400,000 visitors each year for many years. In 2007 with limited funds it has had to par back the massive acreage and gardens, but the Museum, Chapel, Gift Shop and Visitors Center has remained open. In the chapel are dozens of murals hand paintedby Sam himself and the gift shop is the world’s largest Precious Moments store. The Visitors Centre they say is like
walking into a small English Country Village. I’d like to go there some day, I’m sure it’s overwhelming to see so many beautiful and tranquil artwork and figurines in one place.

The Little Red Riding Hood Cookie Jars - Hull Pottery and Regal

These cookie jars started out from the design by Louise Bauer of Zanesville Ohio (patent was issued in 1943) Many of these jars were produced by Hull Pottery as blanks and then sent to the Regal China and Novelty Company in Chicago to be decorated. However it is possible that Regal China created some of these jars themselves from scratch. Some collectors have made the assumption that the cookie jars made by Hull Pottery as blanks were glazed inside the lid. Where as the jars made by Regal china were unglazed inside the lid.

Then there is the different decorations on the skirt. This one has a poppy and daisy flower design and Little Red Riding Hood is carrying a closed basket. It is found with the one larger centre flower bouquet, or with either two or as this one is with the three seperate floral bouquets. The salt and pepper shakers have a yellow and red floral decal. They were from different estates.

Regardless of whether Hull or Regal china made these they are definitely beautiful and old from the 50s or earlier era. The cookie jar does not have the glaze inside the lid so I am assuming that a collector will say it was probably produced by Regal China. They can be found in my shop, the title is clickable and links to the items.

'Welcoming Autumn Woods' by collectique

A mix of woods found in the Vintage Market team Flea Market Sale.

Antique early 1900s Rot... SarahAnntiques $175	SALE Vintage Childs Oak... LifeInStages $60	Vintage 1960s LITTLE BO... LoverlyVintage $9.99
Saura Marine Compass, S... AnnesAccumulat... $150	SALE The Original Dr Sc... photographicam... $19.5	Pair of Antique Wedding... semprevintage $18
SALE Vintage Florida So... LucyandEthel $7	Chunky Charm Bracelet v... vintagemarbles $10	vintage farmhouse woode... Luncheonettevi... $34
Vintage 'Harvest Ti... FalconandFinch $10	Hand Crafted Vintage Gr... thisthatothert... $25	sale. Vtg Wooden Printe... HornetsNestVin... $10
Vintage planter wall ha... vintagerunway $22	miniature french table ... hatchedinfranc... $19	SALE Antique Polish 13.... carolinarocks $22

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Etsy Christmas in July Events

It’s so much fun to go shopping online with all the Christmas In July sales happening especially the Etsy ones starting this weekend. As a shopper, I’m going to be looking for some handmade soap items to be listed with free shipping, and as a seller of vintage items the Vintage Market Team on Etsy is having a huge Christmas in July event. I’m a proud member of the Vintage Market Team and have listed several fabulous Christmas and party items especially for this sale. Many treasuries are cropping up with the vmteamxmas theme. I did my first treasury and it’s linked below. You can view all the vmteam items by doing a search on Etsy using the keyword "vmteamxmas".

My treasury http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c37f7b6229d8eef0409345d/vintage-and-christmassy-vmteamxmas?index=4

Etsy search http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=vmteamxmas&search_type=vintage

List of Christmas treasuries http://www.etsy.com/treasury/tags/christmas

Blue Mountain Pottery

Blue Mountain Pottery became famous for their green flow glazes that were fashioned after the colors of the trees in the northern ski resorts in Collingwood, Ontario back in the 1950s. They used the red clay discovered in the ski mountains and some of the early tourist pieces were made from U.S. white clay blanks. Later and especially for the millennium pieces in year 2000 they imported white clay from England, but the majority of the pieces were made from the local red clay. Blue Mountain Pottery sadly closed their doors in 2004 as a result of cheaper pottery competition from Japan.

Many of the employees branched out to their own pottery companies in the 60s and 70s with each developing their own unique style and glaze processes. The Blue Mountain factory continued to thrive long after the other potteries folded in the 80s. Blue Mountain was in deep trouble in the mid 80s and the retired former sales manager came back to revive the company. Under Mr. Robert Blair’s ownership BMP went on for 20 more years and their pottery became a Canadian icon. Today it is much sought after by avid collectors in Canada as well as many collectors in the U.S. and overseas especially in the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand. Examples are periodically on display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Collectors have been searching out some of the rarer glazes that were produced for a much shorter time than their traditional green color. Plum was made in the 1960s, Harvest Gold and Red were made in the 1970s and a collection of Mocha (brown) and Slate (Grey) were crafted by the head glazer in the 1980s. The early animals and functional tablewares were produced in the traditional green glaze. In 1967 for the Canadian Centennial Celebration Blue Mountain Pottery brought a potter over from Italy to head up their in-house wheel throne pottery with an observation deck where visitors could watch the pottery being thrown on the potter’s wheel. Look today for the head potter, Dominic Stanzione’s amazing large hand thrown vases that were produced in this observation tower from 1967 to 1973. The studio line vases were hand thrown and glazed in mostly Red, Mocha, and Slate and the much sought after trademark glaze of Dominic’s was the Orange and Gold and a Blue Crater type Glaze that was featured and won a prize at Canada's Centennial Expo exhibition in Montreal.

The Blue Mountain Pottery animals range from cats and dogs, to farm roosters and horses and on to water fish and ducks, forest and jungle animals. Many more hippos, tigers, kangaroos and sheep were exported to the U.S. and overseas. The only animal I can think of off hand that they didn’t produce was a goat. Their Romar Collection was a limited edition line of adult and baby animals with certificate. The Romar name came from the combination of the owner’s name Robert and his wife Marion. The first was the Thoroughbred Horse and Colt, then Jumbo Elephant with baby, etc. The most expensive animals today are still the Noah’s Ark Collection that consists of a double faced sitting Noah and 12 animals in the Noah’s Ark glaze of a matt gray with gold and brown highlights. These were mounted on a mahogany base and the giraffe is the hardest one to find . Not as many giraffes were made and of those made few survived as they were tall and thin and would easily tip over.

Miniature animals were made and sold first in their factory store. Many visitors who came to tour the factory on their Northern vacations would take home a $2.00 mini souvenir. They were made in about seven or eight different colors, and the brown white wash color referred to by the collectors as ghost is the hardest to find . A close second is the Dominic Orange Gold color, the Granite Navy with white color and/or the red color.

To be a Blue Mountain Pottery collector you can stick to the traditional green glazed animals and vases, only collect tableware and functional pieces, some will collect only a much loved glaze color and most like myself can’t resist a piece and collect all colors, all shapes and all sizes. The BMP collectors’ club has managed to document well over 1000 separate items and there is always a never before seen piece that will show up at their spring conventions. Their open house is always interesting as many Collingwood residents and former employees will bring new pieces in, sometimes to be identified but more often than not a piece will be discovered that was never catalogued or made available to the general public. Click on the Blue Mountain Pottery Title on this article to see some examples of BMP that's for sale in my Ecrater store.

Yart Sale - Click to go to Collectique's $5.00 off items

Etsy is having their version of a Yard Sale named Yart - there are lots of vintage items that have been reduced this week for the sale. It started this Wednesday and runs all weekend to June 14th. You can search using the keyword "Yart" under the vintage category as well as the other homemade and supply categories. Or check out the Yart Sale section in each store, some have the discount already applied to each individual item and others are offering that the discount will be credited back to your paypal account. Either way it's an excellent opportunity to get some great buys. I have reduced some popular items: Royal Brocade china, Jeanette Glasses, Indiana Pink Glass, Hazel-Atlas Numerology, England Royal Albert, Blue Mountain Pottery Country Charm, and Kraftware NYC.

Etsy Father's Day Business and Travel Guide

Here are the pages where you can find my vintage portable bar and the numerology shaker that has been advertised in the guide. The gift guide is no longer up but the items are still for sale. Here are the links to them.

Portable Travel Bar http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27216070
Numerology Shaker http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23024060

Or dine al fresco with this picnic backpack http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27366282