My Name is Julie T. and I Am a Chinaholic

Yes, folks, it’s true, I am addicted to collecting china. When I moved in late September, I moved approximately 32 boxes of the stuff. No joke. My family helped me move, and I’m not sure if they were amused or disgusted every time they brought in yet another box marked “China-Fragile”.

My addiction started innocently enough. I went to an excellent Catholic high school that was, unfortunately, in a not so excellent area of town. It happened to be fairly close to a great thrift store though, so, in my senior year, I would drive my beeyotiful 1965 Chevy Impala down those mean streets to that wonderful thrift store. Now, this was in the late 70’s, when thrifting was not yet cool. Quite frankly, it was considered rather trashy. So, I’m sure I looked quite odd, an innocent-looking Catholic schoolgirl in my ugly plaid skirt and white-blouse-with-the-Peter-Pan-collar, wandering the aisles of the CHOC thrift store, searching for treasures. I really wasn’t looking for anything specific at first. I just thought it was great that I could find all this cool stuff, dirt cheap. So what if I had to search through a lot of junk. So what if I wasn’t exactly safe in that neighborhood. It was cheap stuff.  Soon enough, I started noticing orphan china in beautiful floral patterns. You know the ones I mean, the cup without a saucer (or vice versa), the lone dinner plate, the sugar bowl with the missing lid. It was pretty, it was cheap, and before I knew it, it became a collection. And then, an obsession.

Most of my collection is from the 1930's through 1950's, but the age really doesn't matter. I buy what I like.  

A few favorites    (please excuse the less than wonderful photos. I'm a terrible photographer, and I'm still learning Photoshop)

I'm not a squealy kind of girl, but I think I did let out a squeal when I saw the above set of 1930's pansy plates at Goodwill last year. There was a set of six place settings (minus the teacups), plus the sugar & creamer, and a serving bowl. Pansies are one of my favorite flowers, so I just HAD to have these. I'm currently on the lookout for the teacups.

 Plates on the living room wall.

Plates on the dining room wall.

I do have to admit that I’m addicted to other things, not just china. Old hats, purses and jewelry, books (by the truckload, it seems), old silver, jadite, 40’s & 50’s embroidered linens  .  .  .   I’ll show pictures of those collections in future posts.

And, since I’m admitting my addictions here, I should probably cop to being a chocoholic and a friedpotatoholic, too, although there will be no photos of these addictions.