Vintage fair mystery. For tea or coffee?

(re-post)

There was a  half-full bottle of Jergens lotion at the Vintage Fair on the weekend.  I opened it and with the fragrance released memories from sixty years ago.  No, I did not buy it - it was in its original package with other items I did not want (a compact with pressed powder, cologne...).  I have wondered since who owned it across more than half a century, kept it in its original (likely a gift) box.  But that is not the mystery - that is the joy of imagination.

The mystery has to do with the pictured items.  They look like individual filters that fit over a cup.  They are made of glass.  The little bags are cloth with a drawstring which suggests loose tea and the glass disk the saucer on which the used (reusable!) bag would sit once removed from the cup, the saucer (neatly) put back inside the basket type filter.

They are old, from grandparents of the sisters who had donated them to the Fair.  But they did not know exactly what they had been used for - tea?  Likely.  But I associate such filters with coffee - the shape and the reusable filter but the fact that they fit over a cup and are so fancy seems more afternoon tea appropriate. 

 The country of origin might have been England or Scotland or Australia;  but they were used  by the family in northern BC.

I did a google (images) but came up with nothing similar.  ???

At the Fair there  were also the dishes that graced the table when I was growing up back in the 1950's; I seem to recall they were "for best" but then became "second best" and then "everyday".  

I enjoy looking at "Collectibles" but I have no wish to possess them - again.  Except (temporarily) when they present a "mystery". 

Posted on September 30, 2013 at 11:22 AM | Permalink

There was a  half-full bottle of Jergens lotion at the Vintage Fair on the weekend.  I opened it and with the fragrance released memories from sixty years ago.  No, I did not buy it - it was in its original package with other items I did not want (a compact with pressed powder, cologne...).  I have wondered since who owned it across more than half a century, kept it in its original (likely a gift) box.  But that is not the mystery - that is the joy of imagination.

The mystery has to do with the pictured items.  They look like individual filters that fit over a cup.  They are made of glass.  The little bags are cloth with a drawstring which suggests loose tea and the glass disk the saucer on which the used (reusable!) bag would sit once removed from the cup, the saucer (neatly) put back inside the basket type filter.

They are old, from grandparents of the sisters who had donated them to the Fair.  But they did not know exactly what they had been used for - tea?  Likely.  But I associate such filters with coffee - the shape and the reusable filter but the fact that they fit over a cup and are so fancy seems more afternoon tea appropriate. 

 The country of origin might have been England or Scotland or Australia;  but they were used  by the family in northern BC.

I did a google (images) but came up with nothing similar.  ???

At the Fair there  were also the dishes that graced the table when I was growing up back in the 1950's; I seem to recall they were "for best" but then became "second best" and then "everyday".  

I enjoy looking at "Collectibles" but I have no wish to possess them - again.  Except (temporarily) when they present a "mystery".