Hassles Collecting Hornsea

I mentioned before the progress of our Hornsea collecting bug. A story in the HPC&RS Newsletter about lost and broken lots bought off eBay prompted me to write in with our own sad story, which was duly published in the next issue (#77).

In my email I explained the difficulty we have had with one item in particular: a margarine container.

We broke the bottom of the Heirloom margarine container—a reasonably uncommon piece but, as you know, it is the lids that almost always get broken, so I kept up a search for it. After two years of watching eBay I managed to find a replacement bottom, we won the auction and it arrived safely. But when I opened the cupboard to retrieve the lid, full of satisfaction for having at last reunited a lid and a base, said lid fell out of the cupboard and smashed on the floor! I was dumbstruck. So, now I am looking for a lid … which could take even longer. Oh well…

BTW: This is what a margarine container looks like:

My letter was written at the end of September. At the start of December I found a complete margarine container and, since I figured we had no chance of finding a lid alone, or no patience to wait another two years trying to find one alone, I bought it.

Well the package arrived yesterday, almost a month late, and this is what it looked like. Thank you Australia Post.

Note the many "Fragile: Handle with Care stickers. I think there are eight of them!

Amazingly, the item inside was not broken. However, also amazingly—and sadly, the vendor had sent the wrong item. He sent us a jam/preserve pot. Of these we now have … I don't know, pick any large number and you'd be close. He writes:

I have checked my stock of Hornsea and have found the Pot I should have sent you. I have listed another pot with the spoon hole as you describe but this is missing, so I have indeed sent you the wrong one. What I will do is pack and send you tomorrow the correct Pot at my expense. Please keep the other Pot as a gift for all the hassle.

It is nice to find so obliging a dealer, and it will be a minor miracle if nice when it finally arrives. And if we do this again

we may have to give up all together on what was—over two years ago now—our favourite lolly jar!

Our Hornsea Heirloom Obsession

For a while now I have been meaning to mention our Hornsea Heirloom collection/obsession.

[Why, yes, that is twenty bowls]

Two events are responsible for our completist obsession with Hornsea Heirloom. First, about three years ago, M. and I were tempted by, but decided not to buy, a very reasonably priced 70s dinner set at an antique shop. Within a week we were regretting our decision, but when we went back, the set was gone and all we could remember about it was that it was brown. We couldn't recall a maker or the name of the series.

Some time later we found one or two brown pieces of the Hornsea Heirloom series, thought they might have been from our mystery brown 70s dinner set, bought them, and then—having a few pieces to work from—went looking for more on eBay. Not long after, a huge collection of Hornsea Heirloom pieces turned up. We were very excited by the scale of the lot, and the price. I was all ready to put in a last-minute killer bid, I had even organised someone to pick the set up for us, but got distracted and missed the end of the auction! The lot was vast, and it went for less than $100.

Everyone was seriously unimpressed. I/we have been trying to make up for these two near-misses ever since. I started buying up everything I could find at a half-reasonable price on eBay while my sister kept an eye open for pieces too, both locally and online. I bought a few large lots, and many single pieces, mostly from Australia, but a few pieces that I couldn't get here were ordered from the UK. I also scoured the web for information about what we had, and what we were missing.

At first, we decided we wanted a set of four, then six, then eight, then twelve. The problem was, having settled on four or six or whatever, I would buy a another large mixed lot—in order to get some of the more obscure pieces we didn't yet have—and all of the extras, the duplicates, would almost succeed in expanding our entire set to the next round number, eight or twelve.

[Why yes, that is eighteen cups]

Having finally given in and decided on aiming for enough tableware to serve twelve people we found that we still had so many duplicates that we could select the ones we wanted to keep based on the particular shade of brown that we liked, the particular backstamps that we preferred (ones with dates) and so on. We also got fussier about condition, went looking for replacements, had items broken in transit, bought more, and so the collection grew and grew, but grew irregularly and without shape. It took a long time before the Hornsea collection took on any shape, and before it became really clear what we wanted.

We still haven't quite finished our collection, but we now know exactly what we are missing, so I think it might be useful to start doing a series of posts on the different Heirloom pieces, because when we went looking on line we really struggled to find reliable information on the series. We have also, now, joined the Hornsea Pottery Collectors and Research Society (HPC&RS), so we have been able to buy a copy of Brian Heckford's Hornsea Pottery 1949–89: its people, processes and products (1998), which is the most comprehensive work on the pottery and on this series.

What this means is that we should be able to combine our experience buying Hornsea Heirloom tableware with plenty of photos and reliable information, the sort of information we wanted when we started collecting in 2008. It should also help us keep up the 70s focus on this blog while we struggle to finish the endless weeding!

70s Loot from our Trip

This is the 70s loot we unpacked when we got back from Sydney.

The three original 70s macrame plant hangers (front) are from our lovely 70s family home in Sydney. The three Australian House and Garden magazines from 1974 (middle) were a present from my lovely sister and her husband; as was the amber glass fruit salad bowl set and the Maw and Co "Real Ceramic Drink Mats" in their original box (behind the Australian House and Garden magazines).

We picked up the Australian Home Journal magazines from 1978 (left), along with four other magazines from a bookshop in Holbrook on the way home. The titles are Exciting Ways with Floors and Walls (n.d.), New Ideas for Luxury Look Bathrooms (n.d.), 25 New Bedroom Designs (1972) and Room Decoration, 25 New Schemes (1972).

The Biscuit canister and the salt and pepper set (right) are pieces from the Hornsea Heirloom series. We have been collecting this series for ages and these were two of the very few items we were still missing (and have just joined The Hornsea Pottery Collectors and Research Society—there is only one other HPC&RS member in Oz!). They came from a great antique centre in Blackheath called Victory Theatre Antique Centre, which we visited with my sister. It was one of many we sped through in a one-day whirl-wind tour of antique shops in the Blue Mountains.

We will do a series of posts on the Hornsea Heirloom series very soon. After all, this blog is called "Our Seventies House" not "Our Weed-Infested Garden"—though, that might be a more accurate description right now …