Yesterday I spoke of a surprise gift and today I’m sharing some more gifts.
My goodness, I am blessed by sweet and generous people in my life. And I’m very, very grateful.
Cathy, a longtime friend of this blog, wrote me to ask if she could send me a few pieces of pottery that had belonged to her mother. She and her sister have many pieces from their mother – all of them with a story that is meaningful to the sisters – but these three pieces didn’t have any particular sentiment attached to them, so Cathy generously sent them to me.
Oh my!
On the left is a piece of Catalina Island Pottery – a candlestick. This pottery was made on Catalina Island off the coast of California, sometime between 1927 and 1947. It’s very collectible.
One of the marks – there are other, fainter marks on the bottom as well.
This is Roseville Pottery – a candleholder in the Bleeding Heart pattern. Sigh. It’s beautiful.
And this little pitcher is Hull Pottery. I have one other piece of Hull that is lovely, though it has a broken handle. Now, I’ve got two!
Thank you, dear Cathy! What a delight it was to open this package. As I told Cathy in my email, Don stood there and oohed and aahed right along with me. I will treasure these pieces and give them a good home.
From the sublime to the ridiculous: I seem to have a problem with receiving damaged items in the mail. First up was the broken glass on the Maxfield Parrish (the seller has sent me a check to cover the glass replacement, by the way.) Yesterday, I got a box in the mail containing a piece of Roseville that I won on eBay. This is what I found when I opened it:
I’m not kidding. I wanted to cry. I immediately contacted the seller, of course. It had been packed in a box that I think was too small. It did have bubble wrap around it but there wasn’t enough space in the box for any extra padding.It seems to me that there should be a lot of padding around fragile items. The seller contacted me and was clearly very sorry that it had happened and said the same thing the other seller said – that she never has problems with breakage. Well, now you do, and I seem to be the lucky recipient. I took photos and sent them to her so she could see the damage for herself. She is going to refund my money. So in both cases, the resolution has been a positive one.
Nevertheless….
So, I grabbed the glue I use for miniatures and I put it back together as best I could. It doesn’t look all that good, certainly not at all good if you look closely, but if I put it in the back of the china cabinet it should be okay until the day I can find a replacement.
There are chips missing – especially near the handle – but this is the best I could do.
This shot really shows the patchwork of glued pieces. You can see why I loved this piece. It’s the Zephyr Lily pattern in a blue/green and it’s a planter/window box.
Hey, at least I was able to patch it back together, right?
Waaah.
The ankle is much better, though I was on it way too much yesterday because Don had to go into the city for an audition, so I was on Scout duty. Next week: IKEA! It doesn’t take much to get me excited these days.
Happy Saturday.
Such beautiful gifts! I was amazed. You have some wonderful friends.
I hate it when things are broken in the mail. Woody has gotten quite good with the glue.
Have a good day,
Eileen
I hate it, too! It’s maddening. Tell Woody I’m working on getting better with the glue…
xo
Hello, you and I have a lot in common with opening items waited on and then its broke! my little stairs w/the rails for doll house were broken off I was so disappointed and it was not wrapped in anything ,which I thought was strange, because of the fragile item ,and it came all the way from china , but coming that far its amazing it made it ! my mother collected McCoy and left them to me after her passing, I tell you this cause your piece reminds of some of her pieces(vases) I never cared to much for them , until they were left to me , now I treasure each one ! and its strange how pretty they are, I just never noticed before. well ill shut up now ! lol one more thing ! I love your taste and just seeing your cozy home makes me at ease , when I was little I loved we willy winky because of his cute little window bed ! and his cozy little room ! I don’t know if you know who I’m talking about but I promise I’m not crazy!! I just babble lol!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Melissa. (Don would tell you that I babble, too!)
Beautiful gifts! What a sweet thing to do. Too bad about the broken pottery but it’s good that you’re being reimbursed. Hope you can sit back and let your ankle heal more.
Blessings,
Betsy
I am. I’ll take it easy today, but it’s much, much better than it was, Betsy. I just have to be watchful…
It is so sad when a piece like that arrives broken. I hope you find a replacement one of these days. The other three are gorgeous and what a great friend to share them with you. I am especially enamored of the Roseville piece, the color and shape are so pretty. I recently won another McCoy piece and can’t wait for it to arrive. Rest today and get that ankle stronger so you can get to IKEA!!
hugs,
Linda
What piece did you win, Linda? You know I want to know!
A grey pottery Arcature square vase with a burgundy bird! Can’t wait to see it!!
I have it in green/yellow. Can’t wait to see yours in grey! I think that design is the coolest!! Congrats!
So sorry to hear about your broken planter! Perhaps you could put a plant in it…one that drapes over the side…maybe that would hide the glued parts. But the other pieces…oh my…lucky girl! They are beautiful! Take it easy on your ankle…you don’t want to miss IKEA! ;)
Don is making me take it easy because I had to carry so much of the load yesterday. So I am. But I’m swiffering and vacuuming and doing the laundry. Have to do SOMETHING!
The fun part is that those 3 beautiful pieces didn’t have “history” before (for your friend Cathy or her sister) but now they do!! They will always now have YOUR story of how they came to the cottage . That makes me smile. Kind and caring people make me smile, too.
You’re so right! They have a story now, don’t they?
I have much to smile about this week, Chris. Actually, most of the time, if I count my blessings!
Beautiful additions to your pottery collection, Claudia. My daughter received some “broken” books in the mail…the paperback covers were folded back at the top corners. I mean a substantial fold that only meant a careless packer. She took a photo and contacted the seller. The company was good enough to send new books without charge, and told her just to keep the ones already sent. (This seller was NOT Amazon…). Glad your ankle is better.
That was good customer service, Wendy. Refreshing!
We went to IKEA on Tuesday. Fortunately, my husband enjoys going as much as I do. We had a good time. Our 16 year old granddaughter asked for a record player for Christmas and we had to get something for it to sit on and hold albums. She likes IKEA too. I’m glad your ankle is feeling better.
Love hearing that young people want to play vinyl. We might be getting each other a turntable and speakers for Christmas. I wish I’d kept my stereo, but it’s long gone!
What a lovely gift – I especially like the Catalina piece. How maddening about your Roseville purchase – it is an especially attractive pattern. Do the IKEAs in America have the ‘marketplace’ area? I’m thinking there may be minis..
They do. I’ll have to check it out Barbara. All depending on how my ankle holds up.
Claudia, I loved the gifts you received. I hate that the one was broken. People need to make room for lots a wadded newspaper to absorb the shock of drops or throws…we ‘ve seen on TV how some handle things in the mail. You did a great job with the gluing truly. Blessings to you, xoxo,Susie
I know – in both cases, there was no newspaper or packing peanuts or anything to absorb the shock of any drops. Crazy! What are people thinking?
Have a great weekend, Susie!
The pieces Cathy shared are just beautiful. I love each one. As for the broken piece, it truly is wonderful. What a shame. However, I’m glad you put the glue to it because I would rather see it in patched condition than never seeing it at all. You have such a wonderful collection.
Exactly. I really love it and until I find one exactly like it that isn’t broken (if ever!) this will do. Thank you, Barbara.
mmm…. be still my heart on that Roseville candlestick…GORGEOUS !!!! Lucky you!!!! It makes me want to see the other pieces their mother had that they couldn’t part with.
Ohhhh!!! I get so angry with stupid Ebay sellers that cannot wrap for proper mailings. It’s NOT about the refund…..a beautiful piece of pottery is lost forever. It happened to me on some pieces that matched my china and I was just sicken with the carelessness. Mine were beyond glueing and a total waste. Then to top off the insult to injury, had to open a “case” against the seller. I easily won but the dishes were lost forever. :(
Addie
Exactly. The refund is nice and the proper thing to do, but the piece of pottery is lost. So sorry that happened to you, Addie. Just makes you want to spit, doesn’t it?
Wow, too pretty for words. If I had been browsing the tables at a flea market or antique shop and stumbled across those pink pieces of Roseville and Hull, I would have snapped them right up myself. Pink is my favorite color and those are two GORGEOUS pinks. That would, by the way, look absolutely beautiful in my rose, pink, sage green and white bedroom. “Sigh” is exactly right! ?
They are beautiful pinks. Hull pottery, especially, has some wonderful pinks Janet – maybe you need to think about some Hull or Roseville for your bedroom?
What great gifts:) So sorry you keep getting broken packages but I do think you did a tremendous job of repairing the window box, it’s hardly noticeable.
Thanks, Dawn. I figure better fixed than not!
What a shame…it definitely wasn’t packed well enough for something so valuable and fragile…and it is so pretty Claudia…when I sell something online I make sure it is well packaged…bubble wrap and paper…the item should not be able to move when you move the box…Here is the thing though…If something is sent Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express…insurance is included…Up to $50.00 Priority…Up to $100.00 Priority Express…Once a box leaves my hands I have no control over what the postal workers do…My brother dated a postal employee years ago and she told me how things are handled…she said the workers never even look at the marks on boxes…they just toss it on the pile…it is more important to them to move things faster…If you send or receive something broken that has insurance coverage it should be the responsibility of the postal service to refund your money..I am not making excuses ( from the way you described she clearing should have padded better) but simply letting you know because some sellers would tell you to contact the Post Office…I have shipped several thousand packages since 2000 and had only two breaks…I try hard to make the customer happy because I know how disappointed I am when I receive something broken…I also advise everyone to do what you did Claudia..take pictures of the broken item…no one is going to refund your money just because you tell them it was broken…you must show proof….there are a lot of swindlers out there who would take advantage of that…Anyhow it is sad to see such an old and beautiful planter in pieces…I must say that you did a pretty good job of putting it back together…good luck on finding another one….
I’m sure the handling by the post office didn’t help things, but all the more reason to pack better. I’m learning from this, too. Although my scarves aren’t breakable, if I ever decide to sell some china in the Etsy shop, you’d better believe I will pack it extra carefully.