Antique/Vintage Glass – Plates
As a child, I spent many memorable afternoons watching my maternal grandmother paint beautiful china plates. I was always fascinated by the delicate strokes of paint that were layered one atop another until the final design was revealed. I loved the smell of the turpentine she used and love that smell even today. The obvious pleasure she derived from creating something beautiful left its mark on me, and I now experience that same joy from when creating something with my own hands. I am fortunate to own some of the lovely plates she painted, and I will be posting photos of them soon. Until then, however, I will begin this category with some other lovely pieces in my plates collection.
The four plates shown below (dated 1892) were hand-painted by an unknown artisan from the Millersburg Women’s College. In addition to the fact that these are absolutely gorgeous, I was excited that these were created in an institution that I consider an integral part of Kentuckiana history. The Millersburg Women’s College,which was operational in the mid-1800’s, was originally established to train preachers but the curriculum was soon expanded to include a generous amount of instruction in the liberal arts as well. This college, a predecessor of the Millersburg Military Institute, played an important role during the initialization phase of the Military Institute as some of its buildings were actually used to house early cadets . Today, the Millersburg Women’s College has evolved into what we now know as the Kentucky Wesleyan College.
These fabulous plates were a rare and serendipitous find, indeed, as I obtained them at the sidewalk sale of my favorite local antique store. When I checked out, the owner was flabbergasted by the price at which I got them – she assured me that they were rather valuable, and that she hadn’t even known that this vendor had this set available. She also said that if she had seen them before I did, she would have bought them for her own personal collection. I fell in love with them the moment I found them, as I have always loved birds.
The pretty plate shown below is a handpainted piece with the marking “studio handpainted nippon” on the back. I don’t know the age, but I thought it was a lovely addition to my collection.
More plates to come soon, so please visit again!
Last modified on: October 21st 2012.