Guest Blogger Day: Lindsay from Everything LEB

Since I'm out of town, I asked one of my favorite bloggers to fill in.  Everything LEB is one of the blogs I've been reading the longest; check it out and you'll see why.  She's young, stylish and lots of fun.  Thanks, Lindsay, for helping me out!

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Hi everyone! Since Emily is out of town today, she kindly asked me if I would keep you all entertained while she is away.  She said no boundaries, any topic, nothing was off limits, anything I wanted.  She left it wide open but, I figured I'd better stick with the interior design theme, thrifting to be more specific. 

Every so often I stop at the local Goodwill to do a little poking around.  You never know what treasures are there just waiting to be uncovered.

There is almost always something that I want need to have and this time was no exception.  I walked right over to where all the plates were stacked and started digging for gold.

Five minutes later I had the following beauties in my basket:

Memory Lane Royal Ironstone Red Transferware plate

Set of 4 small Blue Heritage plates

I should confess- I am NO expert in transferware, china, ironstone or anything else in that category.  I look at the bottom of pieces but truthfully I really have no idea what I'm looking at or looking for.  I picked up these pretty things because they were exactly that, pretty. I liked them no matter what they were worth.

My last find just might be my favorite thrift find of all time, just for the history factor of it:

Even the stamp on the back of the last plate is pretty

The name on the back is John Ridgway and Co. with the pattern name being Doria.  I started researching what the marks meant and where this pretty plate came from.  Turns out the stamp would tell me exactly where it came from, and even the date the plate was made!

July 20, 1844

That's over 160 years old!  It was made in England, in the city Stoke-on-Trent which is part of Staffordshire. So between 1844 and 2010 it somehow made its way over to the US and ended up in Boston, MA in my hot little hands.  Oh what a story this plate must have to tell!

This one plate has now opened a floodgate of items I want need to start collecting: Transferware, Ironstone, Jasperware and so much more.  

Look at all the ways I could display and use a collection if I had one

For all to see in a beautiful china cabinet- or maybe as a plate gallery wall

Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner would be a perfect time to use a collection and show it off

What about a special baby shower or wedding shower on the back patio

Now that I have a collection started with these beautiful plates, it's time to grow the collection.  You better believe that I will be keeping my eyes out for more treasures from now on, you never know what piece of history you are going to stumble upon next.

If you made it through all that, thank you!! And thank you again Emily for inviting me to be the guest blogger today, I had so much fun learning more about my find. 

(Photos from Country Living and Southern Accents)