Thrift Shop Finds

I remember hot summer afternoons in Philippines when I was a child. It was 90 degrees outside on a full blast humidity of 85%. My thick course hair was uncontrollable. I was wearing cotton shirts and shorts with a glass of cold orange powdered Tang. My grandmother was sitting across from me sewing a torn pants. She came back from her island of Marinduque and brought an orange metallic tumbler. It was an antique tumbler from her younger days in circa 1930's. It was the only piece left after a so called friend stole all her dinnerware in 1960's, absent mindedly forgetting one tumbler on the sidebed. It was the only tumbler left, a piece that reminds my grandmother of her youthful days--those days when she could afford fine dinnerware.

20 years later in California, I was having a conversation with my mother about antiques. She brought up her family's stolen dinnerware. She mentioned how they were beautiful and grand like no other kind. She expressed her sadness on how they lost a big collection of antique dinnerware, which would probably survive all these years knowing how my grandmother is so meticulous, careful, and cautious with her things.

2 years ago, my mother went to Philippines and took with her this beautiful tumbler as a reminder of her younger days and her love for antiques.

Do you see why my grandmother and my mother are so in love with this tumbler and their collection of dinnerware? The detail on this glass is exquisite with fine glass etching and extraordinary triple grape leaves handles. The lip of the tumbler has a wave so is the bottom. (I have always wondered how they drank with this cup.) When sunlight hits the tumbler, it reflects a metallic sheen with different colors of the rainbow. This glass is opaque for it has been sitting away from sunlight for 80 years!

2 days ago, I was browsing thrift shops and I was not expecting to find a serving bowl that matches this tumbler. Of course, this tumbler was made in Philippines with a different make and model but the resemblance is present. I bumped into this serving bowl, which I paid for a reasonable price of $30.00.

The color and opacity is definitely similar. However, when I turn the bowl upside down, I could not find the same grape vine design, but I fell in love with it just as my grandmother and my mother fell in love with the orange tumbler.

To Good Will employees I hope this marked price will come off!

This is the smaller bowl I found with the same wave pattern or pinched pattern, which I got for $20.00. They are both from the same year circa 1930's. The design has leaves and flowers but not like the tumbler above.
Here they are together--an orange collection of the beginning of my antique hunting for 1930's dinnerware. So my collection shall begin. I can see how my grandmother and my mother fell in love with orange dinnerware. It is all about the opacity of the glass, etching and design, metallic glow, and memories that come with it.