The Flapper
My mother-in-law, who I've mentioned before many times in this blog, is (as I think I've also mentioned a few times in this blog) divesting herself of as many material things as she can. Not willy-nilly - she's been - for some years now - emptying the surprisingly small house she raised Husband and his four brothers in, of the impressive collection of family heirlooms and added gems that she and my much-missed Father-in-law gathered over the course of a long marriage and life.
So some days, marvelous beautiful gifts just fall from heaven. Like last weekend, when Husband took Mom O shopping like he usually does on Sunday. And he came home with a couple of plastic crates. It's, well, the family china. Well, not all of it. Half of it, maybe. Like, alla sudden we have a lovely place setting for ten, plus a lot of extra serving pieces, should we ever find ourselves in the situation of inviting 8 of our closest friends for a formal dinner.
It's gorgeous and I feel grateful, as usual.
But that's not the gem.
The gem is the Royal Doulton.
Mom O collects Royal Doulton figurines. Now, it's not the kind of thing I could really get into, but I've spent a lot of time with her talking about her Royal Doultons and discussing - in particular - the change in quality between the older, truly hand-painted figurines and the modern figures, which are poorly painted at best.
And we've talked about her individual figurines, and what is charming about them, and so on.
So imagine my pleasure last Sunday when Husband came home with all that gorgeous china in tow, and also, he mentioned, "Mum gave you a Royal Doulton. You know, the girl with the garter."She's a flapper in a sunbonnet with a dreamy expression on her face, absent-mindedly adjusting the top of her stocking. She charmed me the first time I saw her.
"She remembered," Husband went on ,"you liked the girl with the garter. Mum said, '[Ronnie] always liked this one.'"
Oh, I still do. Thanks, Mum O.
ronnie
posted by ronnie at
8:19 p.m.
4 Comments:
What a spectacular piece! I've never seen it--or anything remotely like it--in my life. Can't find it online, either. What's its name?
My mom and her pals used to buy plain plaster Doulton-like figurines and paint 'em themselves. They'd even glue on bits of lace where needed. There was no money for the real McCoys.
Before my own recent divestiture, there were a couple of Dalton figurines and they were so lovely. The first was "Top of the Hill" which some cousins brought me from a trip to Canada. I'm not sure who she went to - one of my kids who liked her a lot, I'm sure. The other was of a lady with a basket of exquisitely modeled daffodils on each arm. She may have been called "Daffydowndilly" or perhaps that's just what I called her as a child. Same cousins may have brought her to my Mom on the same trip. Anyhow I gave her to my brother and his wife when they married.
But I never saw any at all like yours! She is very unusual but has that undeniable Dalton-ness about her. Lucky you!
the other Ronnie
Oops! I can't even spell. That comes of not having one close by to copy from. Of course I could have copied your spelling but that's so boring.
the other Ronnie
My dear "other ronnie",
In this house, we have a very, very high tolerance for "o"/"ou" spellings. Anarchists, you might call us, so fond are we of our American friends and their charming habit of losing their "u"s when they go out. Your spelling is ok by this blog.
rounnie cat
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