ironstone coffee filter
On my latest visit to the Hawley Antique Exchange, in Hawley, PA, I found this glass coffee pot. Inside it had an aged ironstone coffee insert/ filter in perfect condition. How can something like this get me so excited? How can a ceramic insert get me so excited that I called Steve from the car and sent a photo immediately?
I can’t really answer this question, except to acknowledge a bit of insanity on my part, and to be thankful that we have the technology to share an image instantly by text. More importantly, that he seemed as excited as I was.
Ok, I am not sure that second part is true, but he did share the moment with me and that is definitely saying something, considering what I was sharing.
I vividly remember my mom dragging me to a warehouse filled with dishes when I was growing up. To me, we were going to a secret place. It was located in the back of a sparse and open parking lot somewhere on Long Island. Inside the store was filled with ceramics and glass, plates, serving dishes and decorative pieces, all at a discounted price. On our frequent trips there, we’d pick out various items that we most certainly did not need.
I cannot remember the name of it, and I can’t even say that I loved going there, but I did love sharing this with my mom. I'm going to have to ask her if she had an idea about the obsession that these objects would hold for me one day- Perhaps she knew, or perhaps I was the only one of her children who didn’t object to going. Whatever the reason, the search for the objects, the hunt for the perfect piece with my mom, in that warehouse definitely left an impression on me.
Years later, the original Pottery Barn store, this one located on 24th street and 10th avenue had a similar feeling. This was a great store and you couldn't help but feel like you were actually discovering some secret finds. Pieces were all a little different, and the stock never stayed the same, disappearing as soon as they sold out.
I went to that original Pottery Barn store often when searching for props as an assistant. Sometimes lines stretched out the door to get in to find the deals and buy the special finds of the week. It always felt like you were unearthing a treasure.