GONE, But Not Forgotten: FAMILY PIECES - Iron Stone Tea Leaf - Glass Perfume Dresser Set - Topsy Turvy Rag Doll

MOM'S TEA LEAF-
posted July 9, 2013

When Mom was young, she and her family lived in rural southern Indiana, next door to Ida and Billy Good. The summer of 1963, Mom took my sister and myself to Ida Good's for a visit. She gave Mom a wedding present that she and Billy had received in 1891. It was a Copper Lustre White Ironstone Tea Leaf Milk Pitcher.

There is a large "Y" shaped crack on the backside of the pitcher; but just the same, this is my favorite piece of Mom's many pieces of Tea Leaf.

Interestingly enough, this is how Mom's Tea Leaf collection came to be, by inheriting a piece from a cherished family friend.

In the 1840's, English potters began shipping white ironstone ceramic ware to America, decorated with copper lustre bands and simple decorations. By the mid-1850's Anthony Shaw introduced a new design that took the china market by storm - Tea Leaf. For almost 50 years Tea Leaf ironstone was a favorite of farm and working-class folks of America.

Tea Leaf has simple body styles and is known as a durable and practical stoneware.

All of Mom's Tea Leaf is now packed away in boxes.

But it was like seeing long-lost friends as we unwrapped these pieces that I would bring home with me.

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Mom's 3-Door Oak Ice Box

posted Sept. 2012

We now use the ice box for our bar.
In 1964, during a hurricane in St. Augustine, our electricity went out for several days. Dad went to the Ice House on Riberia St. and purchased some ice for the ice box so we could keep our food "refrigerated!"

Mom found this ice box on the back porch of a yard sale in the early 1960s and bought it for $15.00.

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My Teddy
posted Sept. 2012

I received my first Teddy Bear from Aunt Jane on my first Christmas.

He's been stitched and repaired and
he's balding like an old man.

But he's still loved and kept out for visitors to see.
He's almost 70.

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GRANDDAD'S FIDDLE

posted June 19, 2012

The fiddle belonged to Granddad Lind.

Charles Bruce Lind

1901-1986

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AUNT WORTHY'S DRESSER PERFUME SET

posted June 15, 2012

Ara Jane Worthington Love Little

1869-1964
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Aunt Worthy was one of the first registered nurses in the state of Tennessee having graduated from the Erlanger Nursing School in 1908 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

According to family history, she was

engaged, but he died and she never married.

taken 1924 - Aunt Worthy and her four brothers - my Great Grandfather on the far right.

She lived her life in the home she was born; riding a side saddle to deliver babies and continued to be a midwife until she was 74 years old.

I was given Aunt Worthy's

Perfume Dresser Set which was given

to her by her fiancée - so the family story goes. Her fiancée died before they were married.

Hand-painted flowers and foliage are the most common patterns found painted on the glass.

Manufactured in the late 19th century, Victorian Bristol glass was greatly admired and desired.

Early bottles manufactured before 1850 almost always have a "pontil." These bottles have a "rough pontil" which can be identified by a circle of glass found on the base of the bottle. Usually protruding from the base 1/16 of an inch or so but sometimes just a rough circle of what looks like broken glass. These types of pontil are sharp as these are on these bottles. When blowing the glass, the part that was left on the bottle is what we call the "pontil."

After 1860 an invention called the snap case came into widespread use to hold a bottle while being finished. It made holding the bottle a simple task and less of a complicated skill while also doing away with the pontil. A snap case seldom left any mark on the bottle at all.

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GRANDMA PERSONS' RAG DOLL

posted Feb. 20, 2012

Grandma Persons had a closet under the stairs
that we would play in and explore.

That was the home for this Rag Doll.

The Rag Doll is called a Topsy-Turvy Rag Doll

with two heads,

one normally concealed beneath a skirt.

This doll was from the turn of the century - late 1800s to early 1900s.

Picture taken in 1909

Jennie Alora Shelton Little - Margaret Marie Little Persons- Sara Ellen Little

1872-1922 1902-1990 1906-1988

The rag doll belonged to Grandma Persons or

her sister Aunt Sara.

This is why the doll is called a Topsy-Turvy

Black and White Rag Doll.

The two heads share a common torso.

The faces are hand embroidered

and this side probably

had a scarf stitched to the head.

Other Topsy-Turvy white dolls usually had

a yellow yarn, two ponie-tailed hair style.

There are long stitch threads hanging;

so at one time there had been a hair wig attached.

Sure wish I could find a picture of the girls with this doll in their hand.

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GRANDMA'S TYPEWRITER

posted Feb. 19, 2012

(1902-1975)

It's a Smith-Corona Sterling serial #5A375413,
mfg. in 1953.

Made in the USA.

This was the first full year of the new Super-5 body style. It has a lighter green shift, tab, and margin-release keys unique to the 1949-1954 Smith-Coronas.
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GRANDMA PERSONS' DOOR STOP
posted July 24, 2011