Sunday, January 11, 2009

My Special Find....

25 years ago, I started collecting Belleek. Belleek is Irish china. It is lovely to look at but hard to handle - it's eggshell thin. I have been in love with it since I first saw it, at my Nana's home in Boston. Nana and my Grand Father came to this country from Ireland where they settled . She shared her love of Belleek with my Mother who in turn shared it with me.

I have a wonderful collection, but have always wanted a cup and saucer with the "Black" logo on the bottom. The black logo means it is one of the first piece's ever made. I have many pieces with the green logo or brown, but the black is hard to find. And when you do find one, they are priced at $150 - $200.

Two weeks ago I was looking at Belleek on Ebay, just to see what they were getting for select pieces. I just happened to see that someone had a cup and saucer offered with a starting bid of $15. That I found hard to believe, then I saw the picture of the bottom of the cup... the "Black" Logo. I can tell you it was a rush - here was my chance to get it. So I placed a bid. I decided not to go any higher than $50. The auction ended in 3 hours.

I watched it every half hour until it got to the final 15 minutes, then I stayed glued to my screen. I looked at lots of sites, Antique Quilts, Featherweights and China Teapots... but kept going back to my bid. Nobody had bid anything on it. The final 8 minutes someone bid it up to $20. I waited but had my bid ready to go - the last 30 seconds I put in the bid for $24.45 and WON.

Here it is, my newest treasure.....






The "Black" Logo

I have another cup and saucer set (green logo) and am tempted to make a cup of tea using it. Then sit on my couch wrapped in a quilt and enjoy going through my Quilt Sampler Magazines. That is one of my favorite things to do, now to add the Belleek and it would be heavenly.

Keep Warm

Patti