I'm a little teapot - Collecting Teapots

We all know the origin of teapots, the question is why do people collect teapots? Like most collections it starts with a single item and then grows. So for example you have this plain brown earthenware teapot, it is functional, not very pretty but does the job. It is however the first teapot you bought when you moved into your flat, your gran gave it you when you left home to go to university. It starts to drip and a friend buys you a pretty one with a cup and saucer for your birthday. You start to use that one and the plain brown one sits on the shelf but you don’t want to through it out because it has memories.

You pass a comment at work that your grandma always had leaf tea and said that teabags were the sweepings from the factory. Someone then brings in a china teapot and some loose leaf tea for a cup of tea in the afternoon. That’s it you are hooked and you go and buy a china teapot at a local vintage fair. You are now unwittingly the owner of a collection of teapots. You start finding tea pots in all shapes, sizes, famous makes and patterns, novelty and commemorative, in books, magazines, shops and on TV. You know you are an avid collector when you clear space on a shelf to display your teapots, it is only going to get worse, when you have to buy a cabinet or book case because there is no room on the shelf.

Trends come and go and at the moment (and you only have to look at Ebay) the prices for Sadler teapots are very high, some reaching £350 - £500. Until recently good prices (circa £50) were paid for Royal Albert Old country Roses teapots, then everyone decided to jump on that bandwagon and the prices have fallen to between £15 – £25 approximately. Novelty teapots still can command decent prices dependent on subject matter and of course rarity.

Still that plain brown earthenware teapot is in the cupboard it’s not unloved, it’s just not as pretty as the others in your collection but it has memories and then someone on TV shows you how to grow herbs in your kitchen. All you need is a pot and they are using a plain teapot because it is decorative and looks better than a plastic plant pot in the window. Out comes the plain brown teapot and starts another stint in the kitchen.

Collectable Plates - Investment or Not?

What is it that makes people collect decorative plates? They are clearly marked in most cases “not for food use”, so what use are they? They commemorate a subject that is of particular relevance to the collector. Collectable plates come in a variety of subjects, Transport, Royalty, Literature (Brambly Hedge, Beatrix Potter) and People, to name but a few.

These plates are made by the leading porcelain and china manufacturers such as Royal Doulton, Wedgwood and Royal Worcester and then distributed by organisations such as Bradford Exchange founded in 1973 by J Roderick MacArthur. http://www.bradford.co.uk/category/11133_collector-plates.html

The plates are provided as gifts and then the collection begins. Manufactured to the highest quality and with vibrant colours they become pieces of art replacing prints or photographs on living room or hallway walls. When they are released to the market they are widely publicised via Television, Newspaper and now adverts included in social media. Dependent on the subject matter (for example the marriage of HRH Prince Charles & Lady Diana Spencer), there is a market price which is around £40 - £150, some twenty years ago this would have been between £20 and £50. They are sold as a limited edition plates, normally limited to 2000.

The sad fact is that people sometimes buy them as investments on the basis that, well they are collectable and they will gain in value. Sadly this is never the case and most collectable plates end up either in charity shops or car boot sales for pennies or at best about a fiver.

 

The reality is it doesn’t matter, the plates were bought to provide pleasure to someone and until the plates become chipped or damaged, they will continue to provide pleasure at whatever value or cost.

Please do not buy collectable plates to make a fortune, buy them for the purpose they were designed, to bring pleasure to someone.