sale – In the Vintage Kitchen: Where History Comes To Eat

Mark Your Calendars: Our Annual 40% Off Sale is Sunday, November 2nd!

Published on October 21, 2025 by In The Vintage Kitchen2 Comments

Autumn 2025 comes to 1750 House in a blanket of color.

It’s hard to believe that our annual once-a-year shop sale is just two weeks away, especially since our last blog post left off with baking bread in the middle of a summer heatwave. And yet, now here are, firmly swaddled in a blanket of autumn leaves with the woodpeckers performing their yearly tap tap tapping on the shingles of 1750 House reminding us that seasonal celebrations are close at hand. Lots has happened between now and that day in July when the kind bread was rising as high as the humidity and the garden was growing right along with the shop stories.

The lemon balm… one of our star growers in the herb garden this year.

I’m very excited to catch up, especially when it comes to hashing out the happenings of the herb garden and the triumphs and tragedies it endured over our experimental summer. But before we get to all that, I wanted to give everyone a quick calendar reminder in this post about the shop sale since it’s coming up right around the bend.

Two very exciting things are happening this year in regards to the sale. 2025 marks our 5th year of the sale, and it also happens to occur this year on the same day as daylight savings time, so you’ll be able to fall back and enjoy an extra hour of shopping should you so choose.

If you are a regular visitor to the shop, you’ll know that we adore a good floral and that the shop is forever covered in blooms no matter what the time of year. But when it comes to the change of seasons from summer to fall, the shop starts filling with heirlooms that embrace this cozy time of year by reflecting the colors in the landscape that help create autumn vibes in the kitchen and a beautiful feast for the Thanksgiving table. Whether its cookbooks, dishware, or decorative pieces, this year you’ll find some unique heirlooms that not only speak of history but of harvest time too…

If you are new to the All Souls Day sale, every year, November 2nd marks 40% off everything in the Vintage Kitchen shop for one day only. We call it the All Souls Day sale, not for the Catholic holiday that it shares the day with, but for the heirloom history that it encompasses.

All Souls Day is the only communal holiday in the calendar year that celebrates and remembers all deceased ancestors, and to us, that seems like the perfect time to celebrate vintage and antique heirlooms too. None of our shop items would be here today if they had not traveled through time, cherished and cared for in the hands of the people before us.

It’s up to the ITVK team to curate the shop, but the heirlooms do all of the storytelling. Each year, these heirlooms share new insights into the past that help shed light on things in the present. Since no two items in the shop are ever exactly alike, no sale from year to year is ever exactly the same either.

Just like the majority of one-of-a-kind heirlooms that can be found In The Vintage Kitchen, unique stories offer glimpses into culinary history and garden life that occurred decades ago or even centuries earlier. Hidden histories are everywhere and they tend to show up in ways that consistently surprise and delight. Just when you think a napkin is a napkin, a plate is a plate, a book is a book, a detail will jump out from in its history and take us on a marvelous trip through time to understand and explore other places and faces. These are some of the unique heirlooms you’ll find in this year’s sale…

A Rare Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Luncheon Plate c. 1923

With its roots extending all the way back to canal transportation in the 1790s, the C&O Railroad has a long and winding history through the American landscape. Throughout most of its life, C&O trains hauled coal, agriculture, retail products, and travelers between Virginia, the Midwest, the Northeast, and parts of Canada up until the 1980s. In the 1920s, the decade in which this luncheon plate was made, the C & O trains looked like this…

Dining service aboard C&O started in 1899 and was only offered on their luxury lines. Signature menu items included shirred eggs, Saratoga chips, broiled sea fish, baked apples and cream, Spring lamb chops, and French toast with marmalade.

A Signed First Edition of Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook circa 1969

Not every cookbook comes with it’s own theme song, but when Alice May Brock (1941-2024) befriended a young Arlo Guthrie, the whimsical world Alice lived in was all the inspiration Arlo needed to write a hit song called Alice’s Restaurant Massacree, which in turn inspired a cult classic film of the same title. The cookbook came after the song and the movie, but shares the recipes that made Alice a local legend in New England as the proprietor of three restaurants and a catering company. A free-spirit, an artist, and a lover of food and friends, this cookbook features some of the favorites served in her restaurants and at her famous home-hosted dinner parties. It also includes still photos from the movie, Alice’s illustrations, and photos of Arlo and their friends who made a good time out of every meal. Adding an extra layer of the joie-de-vivre she embodied, this particular book is also signed by Alice.

A Collection of Original Floral Feed & Flour Sacks circa 1930s-1940s

You can’t really get any closer to touching real-life history than these floral feed and flour sacks. Stitched into traditional sack shape, similar to a pillowcase, these bound together fabrics were once the commercial packaging that held a variety of pantry staples, including flour, sugar and grain. Made by the manufacturing industry in response to the financial burdens placed upon American families during the Great Depression, this cotton sack packaging was made solely for the purpose of recycling.

Knowing how thrifty and creative the American seamstress was, and knowing how tight household budgets were during the Great Depression and World War II years, grain and food manufacturers packaged their products in these floral cloths specifically so that women could repurpose them by turning the fabric into clothing, household linens, toys, rugs, curtains etc. It was a winning collaboration that not only responded to and eased economic stress, but also showed unwavering care, support and appreciation for customers during one of the most challenging times in American history. This batch in the shop came from a private collector and was so well-cared for across ninety years that each piece of fabric looks practically brand-new. Two of the sacks even retained traces of grain remnants hinting at the original products contained within.

Cotton flour sacks full of flour featured in a 1940s photograph published in LIFE magazine

An Antique Basin Bowl & Wash Pitcher That Changed the American Plumbing Industry

It’s hard to imagine life without modern conveniences like indoor plumbing and bathrooms, but back in the 18th and 19th centuries, this wash basin and pitcher was your gateway to cleanliness, both literally and figurately. Made by Maddock’s Lamberton Works in Trenton, New Jersey, between 1888-1902, the British-born Maddock family were the first immigrants to realize that America needed their own sanitaryware pottery manufacturer. Up until they opened up shop, all basin bowls, wash pitchers, slop jars, chamber pots and grooming sets were imported from England. The Maddocks changed that by producing American chamber sets using local clays, and in doing so, revolutionized the plumbing industry in the process. Recognized as pioneers in the world of sanitary toiletry products, the Maddock family patented several plumbing innovations before they eventually sold the pottery in 1929 to American Radiator & Sanitary Corporation, who would go on to create our country’s indoor heating and plumbing infrastructure including radiators, sinks, bathtubs, and toilets for households across the country.

An Intimate Glimpse into the Life of a Literary Hostess

Guests at the Boston literary salon of Mr. James & Annie Fields were a veritable who’s who of prominent 19th-century writers. Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Sarah Orne Jewett, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Bret Harte, Henry James, Bronson Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Harriet Beecher Stowe, to name a few among were just some of the visitors that spent time in their home along with other notable painters, actors, musicians, and political activists.

In addition to being a writer, activist and philanthropist herself, as well as the wife of distinguished Boston publisher James Fields, Annie Adams Fields (1834-1915) was also a charming, kind-hearted hostess and keen observer of conversation amongst her literary friends. Never interested in self-promotion, scandal or gossip, she regularly recorded bits and pieces of conversations among her friends in diaries that she kept throughout her life. Sketches of dialogue, character traits, pressing matters of the day, viewpoints on life and literature all freshly detailed the lives of extraordinary figures, painting them as humble, human, fallible beings tackling life, their passions and their creativity as anyone might.

Before Annie passed away in 1915, she granted noted biographer Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe Jr. access to all her diaries in his pursuit to record the friendships enjoyed between the Fields and their artistic community. She had one caveat, though, in sharing her books. That Mark’s book not be about her but about the extraordinary friends whom she knew and loved so well. What resulted is this book, Memories of A Hostess: A Chronicle of Eminent Friendships, published in 1922.

Highlighting correspondence, diary entries, cultural events, and touchpoints from history for context, Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe pieced together an intimate glimpse into the lives of the 20th century’s greatest thinkers and artistic minds, courtesy of Annie and James’ record-keeping collection.

Uncovering a portrait to attach to each heirloom’s story is one of our ultimate joys. In this year’s sale, you’ll also meet many new faces. This year, we shared stories of Attia, Alfredo, Pamela, Freddie, Doris, John, Judy, Miroslav, and Marjorie along with her daughters, Kate and Susan…

Clockwise from top left: Attia Hosain, Alfredo Viazzi, Pamela Lyndon Travers, Freddie Bailey, Doris Muscatine, John Ramsbottom, Judy Gethers, Miroslavo Sasek, Marjorie Winslow and daughters.

Each brought many new perspectives of history to life. Attia Hosain (1913-1998) was a writer, actor, cook, broadcast journalist and intellectual focusing on stories of India and British post-colonialism. Freddie Bailey (1904-1992) was famous in Mississippi for her hot pepper jelly along with other regional favorites that made her kitchen the epicenter of Southern food, flavor and hospitality. In the 1930s, Pamela Lyndon Travers (1899-1996) introduced the world to Mary Poppins, who still remains 90 years later, the globe’s most well-known and most beloved nanny. Alfredo Viazzi (1921-1987) was the proud owner of a popular Greenwich Village restaurant known for its convivial atmosphere, great food and reasonable prices. Judy, Doris, Marjorie and Miroslav shared their artistic talents via saucepan and sketchbook. British mycologist John Ramsbottom (1885-1974) taught gardening enthusiasts all about the fascinating world of fungi.

This year also introduced personal stories shared by readers and their families. One of our favorites is that of Beverly, whose collection of handwritten recipes is not just a set of random cards in a box. They are the story of her. Of one woman’s culinary journey as she grew from a young, inexperienced midwestern bride, who barely knew how to boil an egg, into a confident, seasoned California cook and recipe collector over the course of her entire adult life.

Familiar favorites can be spotted in the shop sale too, bringing with them their marvelous heritage stories that are worth retelling again and again. This stemware is the story of champagne, of “drinking the stars,” of a husband and wife couple, Pierre Perrier and Rose Jouet, who created the first true champagne made from the Chardonnay grapes in the Champagne region of France in the early 1800s. Together, with Rose in the vineyard and Pierre in the sales office, they launched Perrier-Jouet Champagne in 1814, a brand that still continues to enchant wine enthusiasts around the world today.

Every year we also like to spotlight the oldest antique in the sale. In this year’s case, it’s this French pottery water pitcher that dates to the 1850s…

More history floats. More stories emerge. In the shop, a cookbook is never just a cookbook. It’s a tactile understanding of what WWII cooking really looked like for women in the 1940s. Its a story of how they had to portray strength, creativity, courage, ingenuity and optimism at every meal, every day while creating delicious, nutritious and interesting meals on limited war rations, tight budgets, and victory garden harvests.

Cookbooks in the shop tell intimate stories not only of their authors but also their owners too. This 1931 edition of the Boston Cooking School Cook Book showcases the enduring legacy of Fannie Farmer (1857-1915), who not only raised generations of home cooks but shared recipes that still inform regional New England cuisine today. It also highlights, through a myriad of cooking splatters and stains, the adventures of a previous cook (or cooks) who cherished the recipes so much their culinary endeavors have turned into an artful aesthetic.

Also every year, there’s one stand out cook, who warrants days or sometimes even weeks of research thanks to a fascinating life lived. This year, it was Lois Burpee (1912-1984)…

who married into the Burpee Seed Company family in the 1930s and managed to carve out an incredible cooking, gardening, and philanthropic career that lasted her entire lifetime.

Other equally interesting cookbooks in the shop sale this year include two rare compendiums of culinary curiosity that offer suggestions on what to make and what to bake every day for a year…

Decorative pieces in this year’s sale highlight the handmade arts. An antique tole tray, a vintage hand-carved wooden swan, a vintage print of a tulip painting dating all the way back to 1827, a hand-embroidered linen…

These are just a few examples of the people, places, and stories that have found their way into the Vintage Kitchen shop in 2025. I hope at this year’s sale you discover an heirloom that captivates your attention, that steals your heart away to another time or another country, and that inspires new creativity from history’s forgotten muses.

At this year’s sale, just like last year’s, you’ll notice that some heirlooms sport a festive yellow banner in their listing photos. Those banners signify a donation program that we launched in 2024. Any heirloom that you see in the shop that says This Heirloom Gives Back qualifies for a 20% donation to Feeding America, a nationwide non-profit network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs dedicated to providing nutritious meals to food-insecure communities around the United States. Not all heirlooms in the shop qualify for this program, so be sure to look for the yellow banners if you would like to participate.

The sale begins at 12:00am (EST) on Sunday, November 2nd, 2025 and runs through 11:59pm that same night. Discounts are automatically tallied upon checkout, so there is no need to enter any coupon codes or discount phrases to receive 40% off.

New heirlooms continue to be added to the shop daily, so stop by for fresh vintage and antique finds leading all the way up to the sale. And, as always, if you are looking for something that we no longer have in stock, please send us a message. We’ll be happy to add your name and needs to our waitlist.

Whether you are interested in experimenting with a new cuisine, looking for a new favorite vintage dish pattern, or starting a collection that recalls memories of a happy time from your past, I hope you find something in the shop that calls to your heart and adds extra delight to your kitchen.

Cheers to all the old souls that inspire the shop each and every day. Cheers to all the heirlooms that they have been passed on to us to love and cherish just as much. And cheers to the kitchen for being the one spot in the house where everyone is always welcome.

Mark Your Calendars: Our Annual 40% Off Shop Sale is November 2nd!

Published on October 15, 2024December 30, 2024 by In The Vintage KitchenLeave a comment

Outside the kitchen window, fall is here. It’s blown into New England this year slowly, on warm breezes scented with cider doughnuts and sunshine. Our prettiest one yet, milder-than-usual temperatures have prolonged the season, rolling it out like a colorful ribbon one yard at a time.

While the days may have lacked that traditional chill that signals a sincere change in seasons, there is something definitely delightful about a warm weather fall. Our string of 70-degree days and 50-degree nights means that much of the summer garden at 1750 House is still hanging on. There are clusters of tomatoes ripening on the vine, summer corn continuing to grow tall in the raised bed, and green beans still putting out at least a dozen pods a day. It may be mid-October, and leaves may be blanketing the garden beds, but the nasturtiums, zinnias, and geraniums are still flowering like it’s July. The novelist David James Duncan once called this Indian summer time of year “a state of serene confusion.” I can see why.

Since so many pollinators are still coming to the flowers, we’ve decided to leave all the summer vegetables up for as long as we can so that they can get all the nourishment they need.

Around the neighborhood though, tradition is not indulging this unusual weather that’s been caught between the beauty of two seasons. Despite the fact that many a summer flowerpot is still wholeheartedly blooming, pumpkins are on porches, dried corn stalks decorate lamp posts, twig wreaths hang on front doors, and the leaves… the magical leaves of a New England autumn… are floating and fluttering in shades of cinnamon, olive, mustard, and mahogany. There is color and flowers and fall foliage everywhere.

Autumn has come to the shop too…

And that means that our annual shop sale is right around the corner. If you are new to the blog, every year, November 2nd marks 40% off everything in the Vintage Kitchen shop for one day only. We call it the All Souls Day sale, not for the Catholic holiday that it shares the day with, but for the heirloom history that it encompasses.

The Art of Chinese Cooking by the Benedictine Sisters of Peking – 1977 Edition 41st Printing

It’s up to us to curate the shop, but the heirlooms do all of the storytelling. Each year, they share new insights into the past that help shed light on things in the present. Since no two items in the shop are ever exactly alike, no sale from year to year is ever exactly the same either.

Stories float in and out of the shop every day offering glimpses into kitchen and garden life that occurred a few decades ago or a few centuries ago. Just like stories posted to the blog, every heirloom in the shop comes with its own unique tale marking its place in time. Hidden histories are everywhere. Here are some of the unique stories you’ll find in this year’s sale…

The 1940s Oxnard Lemon Crate

Highlighting Mexican-American history in California’s Port Of Hueneme, this 1940s-era lemon crate tells the story of how Sunkist lemons were brought in from local farms and sorted at an Oxnard packing house before being transported to retail storefronts around the world. Most of this packing was done by women who were skilled experts in sorting, grading and packaging the lemons for distribution. At the height of production, over four million crates were packed per year totaling half a billion lemons. Fruit and vegetable crates were never meant to withstand time and travel for longer than a few months, so it’s always exciting to discover one that has survived much longer than intended. The only part that is left of this original eighty-year-old packing crate is the front panel, now mounted like a piece of art to showcase its original label.

Beyond New England Thresholds

Focusing solely on the importance of the fireplace hearth in early American homes, this 1937 photography book by Samuel Chamberlain explores the country’s first “kitchens” in over two dozen New England homes that date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. The photos progress as the hearth progresses from primitive cook space to home heating source to decorative fixture, illustrating not only how far cooking has come since the early days, but how home interiors and design have evolved as well.

Perdita

Voted one of the best restaurants in the country by Holiday Magazine in the 1950s, Perdita’s of Charleston, SC and Macon, GA was known for its elegant French-inspired fare highlighting local seafood and steak. The restaurant was named after actress Mary Robinson (1758-1800) whose most famous role was playing Perdita in Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale.

*The real-life Mary Robinson (1758-1800) in a portrait painted by Thomas Gainsborough circa 1781*

Mary had a reputation for being very enchanting and seductive, especially when it came to the amorous attention of men. On a trip to Charleston in the late 1700s, she was caught up in a local romantic scandal that forever made a mark on Charleston’s colorful history, and subsequently inspired the vibe and aesthetic of one of the city’s most famous restaurants.

The Neo-Classical Candleholders

Made for the Metropolitan Museum of Art gift shop, the design of these four petite candleholders is based on antique furniture mounts from a French secretary in the Museum’s collection. The secretary dates to 1787 and is believed to have belonged in the apartments of Marie Antoinette during her time at Versailles. This is the furniture that inspired the candlesticks including a detail shot of the mounts themselves…

Notice how the candlesticks are almost an exact replication of the mounts, fruit included.

The Peruvian Pottery Bowl

Handmade in the Amazonian jungle of Peru, this style of clay bowl has been made for centuries by local Indigenous women of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe using skills and techniques passed down from generation to generation. Highly personal and reflective of each specific woman who makes them, the bowls are entirely formed by hand and then painted with brushes fashioned from twigs and their own human hair. The markings, like the bowls themselves, are one-of-a-kind… trails of paint inspired by each woman’s dreams and visions combined with traditional cultural symbols celebrated by generations of women that came before her.

*Photograph of four generations of Shipibo-Konibo women by David Diaz Gonzales*

Every year, new faces from history emerge too. This year, we met Juliette, Margaret, Farida, Eleanor, Kate, John, Marie, Raffles, Zetta, Carveth and Claude…

Clockwise from top left: Julia Gordon Low, Margaret Rudkin, Farida Wiley, Eleanor Early, Kate Greenaway, John & Marie Roberson, Raffles, Zetta & Carveth Wells, Claude Monet

Each of them had interesting stories to tell. Juliette Gordon Low started the Girl Scouts in Savannah, GA in 1912. Kate Greenaway forever changed the way we felt about blooms and blossoms in her bestseller, The Language of Flowers. Farida Wiley taught nature classes at NYC’s Museum of Natural History for 60 years. And we all know Claude Monet from his famous impressionist paintings, but did you know that he was also a devout foodie too? There’s a cookbook full of his recipes to prove it. All of those faces above created all these pieces of history below…

Clockwise from top left: The Girl Scout Handbook (1948), The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook (1965), Ferns of the Northeastern United States by Farida Wiley (1948), She Knows Best By Eleanor Early (1946), Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers (1978), The Complete Barbecue Book by John and Marie Roberson (1951), Raff: The Jungle Bird by Zetta and Carveth Wells (1941), Monet’s Table (1989)

In the shop, a plate is never just a plate. It’s a rare glimpse into dining hall life at a 1930s fraternity house…

Rare Vintage 1930s Zeta Psi & Theta Delta Chi Fraternity Restaurant Ware Plates By Syracuse O.P.Co circa 1937

In the shop, a teapot is not just a teapot. It’s the oldest antique of the year. This one dates to 1838…

Antique Royal Vienna Tea Service Set – Gold and White Porcelain – circa 1838

In the shop, a cookbook is never just a collection of recipes. It’s stories about life and heritage and inspiration in a myriad of ways. It’s Canadian Leslie Forbes (1953-2016), who was not only a charismatic travel journalist, a fiction writer, and a cookbook author but an illustrator too…

A Taste of Provence by Leslie Forbes – 1987 First American Edition

It’s the talented way-ahead-of-her-time Paula Peck (1927-1972), who died at the age of 45, but not before leaving a handful of books that turned professional cooking and baking on its side in the mid-20th century, by bucking traditional techniques and inventing creative, approachable food…

The Art of Fine Baking by Paula Peck – 1961 Book Club Edition

The Art of Good Cooking by Paula Peck – 1966 Edition

It’s British ex-pat Vernon Jarratt who married an Italian countess and went on to live a La Dolce Vita life in Italy as an intrepid gourmand and restauranteur…

Eat Italian Once A Week by Vernon Jarratt – 1967 Edition

In the shop, a vintage coffee tin is not just a nostalgic vessel to store modern-day items. It’s the lifeblood of immigrant brothers from Scotland who sought fortune and flavor in America’s coffee trade in the late 1800s.

Vintage Yuban & Bliss Coffee Tins circa 1920s-1940s

And in the shop, coasters aren’t just little mats to set your drinks on. They are mini works of art by revered French botanical painters of the early 1800s…

Vintage French Botanical Coasters with Cork Backing – Set of Four

These are just a few examples of the people, places, and stories that find their way into the Vintage Kitchen shop on a daily basis. I hope at this year’s sale you discover an heirloom that captivates your attention, that steals your heart away to another time or another country, and that inspires new creativity from history’s forgotten muses.

Perhaps you’ll travel with engaging journalist and war correspondent, Betty Wason and her daughter, Ellen through the regional cuisines of Spain…

The Art of Spanish Cooking by Betty Wason – 1963 First Edition

or fall in love with the fish-out-of-water escapades of French Clementine as she navigates the ins and outs of cooking in an American kitchen in the 1940s…

Clementine in the Kitchen by Phineas Beck (aka Samuel Chamberlain) – 1943 First Edition with Illustrations

or maybe you’ll wind your way around the exotic Moroccan spice markets with Paula Wolfert as your educational guide.

Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco by Paula Wolfert – 1973 Edition

At this year’s sale, you’ll notice that some cookbooks sport a festive yellow banner in the listing photos. Those banners signify a new donation program that we’ve just recently launched. Any cookbook that you see in the shop that says This Book Gives Back qualifies for a 20% donation to Feeding America, a nationwide non-profit network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs dedicated to providing nutritious meals to food-insecure communities around the United States. Not all cookbooks qualify for this program, so be sure to look for the yellow banner if you would like to participate.

Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker – 1978 Edition 11th Printing

The sale begins at 12:00am (EST) on Saturday, November 2nd, 2024 and runs through 11:59pm that same night. Discounts are automatically tallied upon checkout, so there is no need to enter any coupon codes or discount phrases to receive 40% off.

New vintage and antique heirlooms continue to be added to the shop daily, so stop by for fresh finds leading all the way up to the sale. And, as always, if you are looking for something that we no longer have in stock, please send us a message. We’ll be happy to add your name and needs to our waitlist.

Vintage 1960s Webster-Wilcox Silverplate Wine Cooler Champagne Bucket

Haute Cuisine for Your Heart’s Delight by Carol Cutler – First Edition 1974 Fifth Printing

Early 20th Century Embroidery Sampler circa 1930s

Happy shopping!

Calling All Souls: Our Annual 40% off Sale is Almost Here!

Published on October 24, 2023October 28, 2023 by In The Vintage Kitchen5 Comments

As soon as the pumpkins make their debut on the front porch, and the leaves shower down from the sky, and the extra-large soup pot makes its first appearance on the stovetop since early spring we know that the time is near. Our annual Vintage Kitchen shop sale is just ten days away! Mark your calendars for November 2nd, and on that day you’ll discover an extra treat – a deep discount – 40% off all items in the shop for 24 hours only.

If you are new to the blog or the shop, you might not know that we always host this sale on All Souls Day, which happens to fall on November 2nd every year. Technically a Catholic holiday, we selected All Souls Day not for its religious connection, nor its aura of spookiness given its close proximity to Halloween, but for the sheer fact that it is one of the few holidays in the calendar year that pays tribute to deceased ancestors. We wouldn’t have a shop full of wonderful heirlooms had they not traveled through other people’s lives, other people’s hands, for generations, collecting stories and memories along the way. To us, All Souls Day seems like the perfect day to celebrate vintage style.

This is our only sale of the year, so we love to make it count for shoppers looking to get a head start on holiday gifting, for decorators looking to add a bit of history to their tablescapes, and for home cooks looking for nostalgic recipes and new inspiration.

Hnadwritten notes from a rare 1920s-era cookbook.

Since no two items in the shop are ever exactly alike, no sale from year to year is ever exactly the same either. Stories float in and out of the shop every day offering glimpses into kitchen and garden life that occurred a few decades ago or a few centuries ago. Just like stories posted to the blog, every heirloom in the shop comes with its own unique tale marking its place in history.

A collection of whiteware may at first look like just a bunch of plain white dishes, but each one is actually a gateway to a bit of history. Take this photo for example…

… all these pieces represent a specific time period from kitchens that span more than two centuries…

The platter made in 1900 is antique hotelware. The botanical designs on the 1977 ceramic coasters were inspired by the Tuileries gardens in Paris. The 1891 gravy boat was made in England and features handpainted flowers. The 1850 dinner plates are a rare set of English ironstone from the pottery of James William Pankhurst, which was in operation for only thirty-three years, a mere blip in England’s long-standing tradition of high-quality dishware manufacture.

Inspiration for the 1977 ceramic coasters by Toscany came from here, Jardin de Tuileries, located near the Louvre in Paris.

As the shop continuously evolves from year to year, new faces from history emerge too. You’ll always find favorite standbys in the shop – Julia Child, John James Audubon, James Beard, Emily Post, the New York Times cookbooks, and of course all the best-loved Betty Crocker books, but each year we discover new faces from history too. This year, Carol, Daphne, Wadeeha, Agnes, Alice, Milt, Joyce, Andre and Dorothea came to the shop…

Clockwise from top left: Carol Cutler, Daphne Du Maurier, Wadeeha Atiyeh, Milt Jackson, Dorothea Barlowe, Andre Simon, Joyce Chan, Agnes Baldwin Alexander, Alice Y.

They told stories of art, literature, cooking, collecting, music, hospitality, immigration and gardening. Andre was a French wine expert. Alice was a Texas baker, a professional cake decorator, and an enthusiastic collector of cookie cutters. Dorothea was one of the most prolific nature illustrators of the 20th century, and Milt was an influential musician of the 1950s jazz scene.

Listen to the midcentury musicians featured in this book over on our playlist here.

That’s the joy of collecting vintage and antique kitchenware, isn’t it? Objects and stories intertwined together, forever making and creating memories old and new. I hope at this year’s sale you’ll find something that captures your heart. Maybe you’ll be the next caretaker of this antique 1830s-era Staffordshire bowl – the oldest antique that has come to the shop so far…

Or maybe you’ll find some inspiration among the handwritten notes tucked inside this vintage 1960s gardening book.…

Perhaps the traditional recipes of Mrs. Balbir Singh, also known as the Julia Child of India, will pique your interest…

Or maybe you’ll relate to the story of the Moses Hirsch family, creators of the 20th-century American Family Scale brand, who experienced the tricky rollercoaster ride of running a business among fierce competition, dramatic world events and kitchen modernization…

Or perhaps these two 1950s saddle tan Samsonite cases will call to your traveling spirit. Maybe they will become your dependable companions on jaunts to find the best croissants in Paris, the most delicious Spanakopita in Greece, or the most beautiful luau in Hawaii. Adventures big and small await with these two.

The sale begins at 12:01am (EST) on Thursday, November 2nd, 2023 and runs until 11:59pm (EST) that same day. All items in the shop will automatically receive the 40% discount at checkout, so there is no need to fuss with coupon codes or discount names.

Vintage cookbooks in the shop span the 19th and 20th centuries.

While you wait for sale day to arrive, we encourage you to use the wishlist feature on our site if you have multiple items that have caught your eye. Just click on the heart underneath each listing title and it will automatically add the item to your favorites list where you can then add them directly to your cart when you are ready to checkout.

Having said that, I hope on this year’s sale day you will find something truly magical that makes your heart sing with joy and your space sparkle with delight.

Cheers to all the old souls who inspired our sale. And to all the cherished items that our ancestors have left for us to enjoy. Happy shopping!

Announcing Our Annual One Day Shop Sale: This Saturday 40% Off All Items!

Published on October 12, 2021 by In The Vintage KitchenLeave a comment

Exciting news fellow kitcheners! Our annual one-day-only shop sale is right around the corner. Mark your calendars for this Saturday, October 16th when everything in the shop will be marked 40% percent off.

This is our only sale of the year, and because of that we make it a BIG one. Traditionally, this sale is held every All Souls’ Day in November, but we have encountered a special situation this year that pushed the date up by a couple of weeks. More on that news front coming soon, but in the meantime, I hope you’ll have fun exploring the shop and finding that one particular treasure (or two!) that speaks to you.

This sale has become a favorite Fall tradition around here, as it marks a festive time for early Christmas shoppers and also for home chefs ready to jump-start their holiday cooking adventures. Whether it’s a casserole dish, a cookbook, a table linen, a garden pot, a plate, or a kitchen companion that carries your imagination away, we hope you find something to fall in love with this Saturday.

The sale runs from 12:00am -11:59pm on October 16th, 2021. Sales prices will be automatically applied at checkout for an easy-breezy shopping experience. New items are being added to the shop all this week, so keep your eyes peeled for favorites.

Cheers and happy shopping!

Weekend Shop Sale! 30% Off Now Through Tuesday

Published on November 24, 2018 by In The Vintage KitchenLeave a comment

Hope you had a lovely and festive Thanksgiving holiday and are still enjoying lots of fun with friends and family. For all you post turkey shoppers, just a quick little note from the kitchen to let you know that there’s a 30% off sale in the shop starting today through Tuesday. If you’d like to get your gift gathering done early than this is the sale for you! It covers all categories and collections in the shop from linens to serving pieces, kitchenwares to cookbooks and everything in-between. And it is also the final sale of the year, so if you are looking for some unique gifts for yourself or others, now is the time to shop and save.

Whether you’ve been eyeing a set of antique French dishes from the 1800’s, a pretty little linen from the 1920’s or a cookbook filled with hundreds of recipes from the 1960’s, I hope the sale will inspire an extra dose of joy as we continue to party our way through the holiday season.

Please use coupon code HOLIDAYCHEER upon checkout to recieve 30% off your entire order.

Cheers and happy shopping!

Summer Shop Sale!

Published on July 28, 2018July 28, 2018 by In The Vintage KitchenLeave a comment

This weekend, there’s a big 35% off summer whites sale going on in the shop. Any item that contains the color white is automatically eligible for the discount, which means almost everything is on sale! From linens…

Vintage Children’s Apron made from a re-purposed cotton tea towel. Regular price $10 Sale: $7.50

to dishes…

Set of Two 1940’s Crown Pottery Floral Berry Bowls Regular Price $8.00 Sale Price $5.20

to cookbooks…

General Food’s All About Home Baking Cookbook published in 1937. Regular price $17 Sale price $11.05

to wall art…

Vintage 1950’s Kentucky Warbler Bird Print Regular price $8 Sale Price: $5.20

and everything in between, including these…

Vintage 1940’s Revere Cherry Blossom Petwer and Porcelain Serving Tray Reg. $32 Sale Price: $20.80

Vintage sugar bowls turned into planters. Each regularly $12-$14. Sale price: $7.80-$9.10

1940’s Interior Design book. Regular Price $13 Sale price: $8.45

Ceramic Italian Fish Mold – Regular Price $24 Sale Price: $15.60

Vintage Ceramic Quiche, Tart, Pie Dish Made in England. Regular price: $25 Sale Price: $16.25

Vintage Set of 4 Anchor Hocking 16oz Lemonade Glasses Regular Price: $16 Sale Price: $10.40

Vintage Midcentury Myott Staffordshire Dinner Plates Regular Price$24 Sale Price: $15.60

Vintage Embroidered Linen Tablecloth 48×48 Regular price $45 Sale Price $29.25

and much more! There will only be two big shop sales like this a year, so if you have a treasure you’ve been eyeing now’s your chance to treat yourself to a little piece of history. The sale runs through tomorrow night (Sunday, July 29th). Use coupon code: SUMMERSALE18 upon checkout to receive 35% off your order.

Happy shopping!

The Story on the Table and the Collections They Inspire

Published on April 22, 2018December 16, 2022 by In The Vintage Kitchen13 Comments

There are sibling rivalries, legendary love affairs, epic business successes and terrible company failures. There are cross-continent travelers, centenarians who never age and homebodies who would never think of leaving. There are the everlasting partiers, the quiet dignifieds, and the rebel-rousers with battle scars to show. Forget all the drama that’s occurring on your tv screen or on your phone. Compelling, real-life adventures are happening right in front of you, right on your kitchen table. Welcome to the dramatics of the age-old dishes. They carry the stories of what we’ve eaten across our imaginations and over time.

Today we are highlighting some of the stories that make table settings more interesting and conversations more memorable. When we stock plates and curate collections in the shop we are looking for unusual designs and elegant patterns that can easily be incorporated into your everyday routine for a splashy bit of decadence in both the thought and feel department. We like old china to look old because that’s what ignites the imagination. To us, there is nothing more disappointing then standing in front of a dish trying to decide if it’s new-to-look-old or old but so brand-new looking that you just know it’s never ventured out of the china cabinet. In the Vintage Kitchen, we like dishes that bring some story to the table with an extra added dose of depth and charisma to enhance the food that we prepare.

A few weeks ago on Instagram, we did a before and after photoshoot of a simple yogurt and coffee breakfast to demonstrate the difference and the impact of ordinary vs. extraordinary. On the left is plain, modern, basic American-made dishware. On the right is colorful vintage handpainted dishware that is more than 60 years old and comes from another country. Don’t you think the mood of the morning changes dramatically just with a hint of some old time interest?

The dishware on the left are all modern pieces in basic white. The dishware on the right features a 70-year-old handpainted saucer and a 60-year-old gold-rimmed monogrammed teacup.

A plate is a plate, you might say. But it’s really so much more than that too. It’s someone’s artwork. It’s a town’s business and a country’s export. It’s an owner’s style expression and a collector’s pride and joy. It’s a plate but it’s also a passion.

Take this one for example… a 9.25″ inch white ironstone plate with a 10- sided polygon shape. It’s hefty, weighing close to one pound, and its speckled with age spots that resemble the shadowy craters of the moon. There is a long delicate crack that measures almost 7″ inches right across the middle and I fear that any day now, it will split the plate in two. When it touches down on another surface, no matter how gently, it broadcasts a two beat thump like a hollow footstep. I think that’s the history of the plate trying to talk. A spirit wanting to tell some secrets. This plate carries a lot of those. It’s 183 years old.

If it was used once a day, every day, for 183 years it would have served a total of more than 60,000 meals throughout its life so far. A remarkable feat for any piece of kitchen equipment, let alone one of a fragile, easy-to-break nature. How many times over the course of its life has this plate been set down and picked up? Whose hands touched it and where did they carry it?

Made in England by C & WK Harvey between 1835-1853, it tells the story of the hustle-bustle days of English pottery making. The Harveys were a father/son team made up of the Charles’ (Sr. & Jr.) and William K. Their pottery plant was located at the Stafford Street Works in the town of Longton, Stoke-on Trent, England – a section of town that Charles Sr. built in 1799 to house factories for a number of different pottery makers.

In the early 1800’s, Stoke-on- Trent was the hub of pottery manufacturing for the entire country of England and employed hundreds of thousands of workers. Parts of the Works are still there today, although now it is a mixed-use commercial neighborhood, primarily consisting of retail storefronts. Almost all of the potteries once associated with it are now gone.

For things like salads, and cheese and crackers, fruit, scrambled eggs and dessert, the old Harvey plate gets used all the time. It’s shiny and smooth and substantial under the touch of fingertips. It’s bright white and pale tea and watery grey in color. It’s got so much crazing, you barely even notice all those zillion fine lines running every which way. It’s simple and it’s extraordinary all in one. It appears often in the Vintage Kitchen photo shoots.

Photos clockwise from top-left: The prop behind the pineapple; serving Carrot Risotto, breakfast time with Jessie Hartland’s Crepes, holding onto the frozen figs and behind the stacks of sugar cookies.

Now so rare in availability pieces from this pottery maker are mostly seen only in museum collections. It’s moved with me four times since I found it more than 10 years ago. With each move, it gets wrapped in a thick sweater and then an even thicker blanket and then transported in the clothes boxes (the best place to pack your most treasured dishes!) to ensure a safe arrival. The crack hasn’t gotten the best of it yet. Fingers crossed, that it never does.

Somewhere along the timeline of its long life, the Harvey plate crossed the ocean from England to America and eventually found its way into an antique shop in the rural South where I found it. Exactly how it got from the U.K. to the U.S.A. is where imagination takes off and the topic of conversation begins. Perhaps it came by boat, packed in someone’s steamer trunk in the late 1800’s. Maybe along with a matching set of dishes destined for a new home in a new country. Or perhaps it embarked on a lengthy 1930’s journey through the mail and then via train where it chugged through cities and states, time zones and territories. Maybe it sat on a festive dinner table celebrating the end of slavery or the rise of the civil rights movement. Or maybe it arrived in America much later – in the 1980’s via airplane – a treasured find from a jet-set vacationer who fell in love with the antique history of England.

We’ll never know the exact story but it is fun to speculate on all the possibilities. Many a dinner party have been enjoyed discussing this very plate’s past. Often times, the more wine poured the better the story gets. Since it is an active worker in the Vintage Kitchen you’ll never see it available in the shop but we do offer many others with equally interesting stories to tell.

Clarice Cliff and her pretty floral plates were designed in the 1930’s for Royal Staffordshire. Clarice was a legend in the English ceramics world from the 1920’s to the 1960’s, designing hundreds of eclectic pieces that were admired by collectors the world over.

Considered one of the most remarkable ceramic artists of the 20th century, Clarice is revered not only for her artistic merit but also her devotion to finding beauty in unusual shapes, colors and designs that were considered very unorthodox in relation to other kitchenwares produced during her lifetime. She was also a brilliant businesswoman – savvy not in an aggressive sales-driven sense, but intrinsically smart, using her own intuition and infectious love of her craft to guide her career, thus attracting a devoted fan base. Her Dimity pattern plates burst with the bright colors of spring. We paired them in two different mix and match collections combining similar colors and unique shapes to compliment the bright and fun-loving personality of Clarice herself.

Clarice Cliff Mis & Match plate collections — The Springtime Bouquet collection on the left and the Gold Meadow Collection on the right.

There is the story of the Willow pattern that has been captivating romantics since the 1850’s. The tale is English in origin but it was based on the original Blue Willow porcelain pattern that was made in China during the 1700’s. The tale involves a wealthy girl who falls in love with her father’s accountant. Her father, who does not approve, forbids the romance and arranges his daughter’s marriage to another man more suited to the family’s prominent social standing. The night before her arranged marriage, as the Willow tree starts shedding its blossoms, romance wins and the accountant and the girl run away together living happily for many years. One day the other suitor finds out where the couple is living and kills them. After death, the young lovers are reunited in the form of birds flying high above the landscape.

All the elements of the story are drawn out on the plate. You’ll notice the palace where the girl grew up, the bridge that takes her and her lover away, the island where they live happily together and the birds they eventually become overhead. Lots of china companies caught onto the fact that this was a popular pattern and an even more popular story and began producing their own versions in different colors. This red willow plate was made by famous American pottery company Homer Laughlin in the 1940’s. We combined it with two other Asian inspired plates to create our own fabled love story collection…

A three-piece set containing Asian themed dinner plate, bread plate and mini dish.

Similiar to the story of the Harvey plate, the Meakin brothers, Alfred, George and James, ran several potteries in Stoke-on-Trent and Tunstall, England. Alfred, produced this stunner, the Medway Blue under his own pottery label Alfred Meakin England in 1897. Exquisitely detailed, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could or would part with this beautiful plate, but like the Harvey, it somehow migrated over to America. Its journey wasn’t without fault or flaw – there’s a sign of adventure lurking in a small very old pencil point sized chip near one side of the rim.

Celebrating over 120 years of life, this plate holds all the dinnertime stories. 44,000 of them. When we look at it, we see the pretty pattern but we also see faces. People through history who stared down at its contents. Their hair-dos and their makeup, their tuxedoed bow-ties and their evening gowns, their earrings and their mustaches. We imagine the conversations while they ate their chicken and fish and game meats. Would we be discussing the same dramas of the day if we served a slice of pizza on top of the same plate?

Other patterns on other dishes ignite similar questions and thought process. When we look at this golden-edged Pope-Gosser plate made in Ohio in the 1920’s we see Jay Gatsby written all over it. Funny enough, it’s pottery founder I . Bentley Pope, an English transplant to America, was a swashbuckler of a salesman and a charming wordsmith. Perhaps he had a bit of the Gatsby or the F. Scott in him too.

Last September, when we discussed the book A Taste of Paris, we learned from author David Downie that the original dinner plate was nothing more than a flattened loaf of bread on which food was piled high. Between that primitive time and now, it is amazing to think how far we have come since the days we ate our dishes. If you are interested in learning more about other plate histories, visit the shop and see which ones spark your heart. We’ve listed both collections and single plates in case you want to mix and match yourself. If you have a favorite from any featured above, share it in the comments section below. We’ll be excited to learn which ones appeal to you and why!

These are some of the other unique stories… feuding brothers, vanishing nature and celebratory statehood. Find them all in the shop here.

To celebrate all the ladies in your life that would appreciate a homemade dinner served on a lovely plate we are having a 20% off sale in the shop which runs now thru May 13th. The discount is available for all items in the shop and will be applied to your entire order. Use the coupon code MOTHERSDAY at checkout to receive the discount.