Vintage Feature – Let Us Help You with the Holidays!

Southern Vintage Table Holiday Special

Are you already in the holiday mood and thinking about family gatherings coming up? Whether it’s a Thanksgiving reunion, a family Christmas dinner, or a holiday meal with friends, we can provide you with all the tableware basics and more. We have open dates in November and December, and when you mention the ad above, we’ll provide a quote with a 10% discount. Give us a ring or send us an email!

(PS – We can also help with other celebrations – baby and bridal showers, rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions, birthday dinners…)

Southern Vintage Table Thanksgiving Tables

Southern Vintage Table Holiday Tables


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Adventures – The Story of a Teaspoon & a Jar

Part of my fascination about anything vintage is the history they embody – the companies that made them, the folks who bought them, the homes they were in, the time period they existed. Appreciating these objects as artifacts, I am thrilled when I uncover an interesting story connected to a new find. This happened last week when I found four teaspoons in the flatware bin at a local thrift store.

They stood out because of their silvery sheen and ornateness and, when I picked them up, they were nice and heavy. As usual, I didn’t bring my glasses so I couldn’t make out the maker, but the pattern was new to me. When I got to my car and found my glasses,  I read the mark – King’s Hall Silver 1088 – and quickly searched the name on my phone. Ding ding!

King's Hall Silver

My research began with a community board on Ebay.  Someone posted a question about these teaspoons and here’s Susan’s response:

… all I could find on this spoon were pages and pages of Home & Garden, Country Life, Suburban Life, … 1911 magazine ads for Kerr Glass Mfg. Economy jars. Kerr was giving away 3 of these spoons with every case of jars and 1 with a dozen caps. No doubt the use of the number 1066 was to attract attention for it was in the year 1066 that William the Conqueror invaded England. His descendants resulted in the Plantagenet dynasty that ruled England for over 300 years.

With this response, I found several ads that ran during 1911.  Here are two from Country Life in America and Suburban Life.

King's Hall Silver - Kerr Glass

King's Hall Silver - Kerr GlassMystery solved – these King’s Hall Silver teaspoons were a free gift given out circa 1911 by Kerr Glass to drive sales of their canning jars, a kitchen staple well known to all of us. It may be difficult to read, so here’s an excerpt from the ad.

Cut out “Hand in Jar” trademark, like above shown, appearing on either end of each case of one dozen Economy Jars and mail it with 14c. in U. S. stamps to cover cost of packing, postage, etc., and we will present to you one Full Size King’s Hall Silver. 1086, famous sectional plate silver teaspoon, made by the manufacturers of the best silverplate in the world. The richest family in the land has no finer, richer, nor more beautiful silver plate than King’s Hall Silver, 1066.

From here, I wanted to learn more about the Kerr Glass company. My research uncovered many more twists and turns – here’s a quick synopsis of the highlights.

  • In 1903 Alexander Kerr started a fruit jar company in Portland, Oregon called the Hermetic Fruit Jar Company. The jars were made by the Illinois-Pacific Glass Company, located in San Francisco.
  • The Great Earthquake of 1906 struck San Francisco and 80% of city was destroyed. Miraculously, the Illinois-Pacific Glass manufacturing plant survived.
  • Kerr opened his first glass manufacturing plant in Kansas in 1909.
  • Kerr fell in love with a young stenographer in his office, Albertina Sechtem (who was 28 years younger), divorced his wife, and married her in 1910. The local headline read, “Rich merchant divorces wife.”
  • During 1911 Kerr Glass Manufacturing ran ads for free teaspoons with purchase of jars and lids in numerous publications.
  • Albertina Kerr contracted typhoid and died months after giving birth to a son in October, 1911.  On her deathbed she asked Alexander to “look after motherless babies, too.”
  • Kerr donated their home to the Pacific Coast Rescue Society to help orphans and single mothers. Over the next hundred years, this contribution proved to be a seed to provide support for young children, single mothers, and individuals with disabilities. Today the Albertina Kerr Center, located in Portland, Oregon, supports individuals with developmental and physical challenges.
  • In 1913, Kerr married his young secretary, Ruth Kalbus, and they had 6 children. Kerr died in 1925 from pneumonia contracted while collecting Community Chest Funds.
  • The eldest son from Kerr’s first marriage ran the company until his death in 1930.  Alexander’s third wife, Ruth, took over to become “the first woman executive in the glass-blowing industry — if not one of the first women executives in manufacturing — in the United States.”  (Healthy Canning)  She ran the company until her death in 1965. Under her direction, many women were promoted into executive positions and her company would become one of the two largest canning businesses in the United States.
  • In 1937 Ruth Kerr established the Bible Missionary Institute that would eventually become Westmont College, ranked as the 90th “America’s Best Colleges List 2013” in liberal arts colleges by US & News Report.
  • Two notable contributions to the canning industry by Alexander Kerr were the production of the first wide-mouth jar and the invention of the metal flat disk used to seal the jar.

From fruit jars, to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, a scandalous divorce and marriage, free teaspoons, centers to help orphans and children with developmental needs, and one of the first women executives in manufacturing – whew! Now, this is a pretty good story, huh?

King's Hall Silver 1088 Teaspoons


Want to see more?  Check out these popular publications from 1911.
Suburban Life, July 1911
House & Garden, July 1911
Country Life in America, June 1911
The Garden Magazine, July 1911


Sources:
Ebay Community Board
Glass Bottle Marks
Alexander H. Kerr
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Albertina Kerr
Healthy Canning
Polio Wars: Sister Kenny and the Golden Age of American Medicine
Find a Grave
Westmont College


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Event – Donuts & Vintage China

Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography

Yummy, right?  Writing today’s post is going to take willpower because there’s a lot of deliciousness in these photos!  We are featuring Mabyn Ludke photos of Katie and Lee’s May wedding reception, styled by Amy Wurster, owner of Knots ‘N Such.  We had the pleasure of  providing the dessert table serving pieces and plates as well as the place settings for the sweetheart table.  Take a look and see how pretty everything turned out!

Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography
Southern Vintage Table
Mabyn Ludke Photography

Congratulations, Katie and Lee, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to help with this beautiful day. See details and more photographs from this wedding on Mabyn’s blog.  Amy, we love working with you and look forward to our next collaboration with Knots ‘N Such!


PS – We are always so pleased and grateful when our clients give us a shoutout.  Here’s our review from Katie on Wedding Wire!

Katie said… 

5.0/5.0  Quality of Service: 5.0  Responsiveness: 5.0  Professionalism: 5.0  Value: 5.0  Flexibility: 5.0

Southern Vintage Table provided beautiful mismatched vintage plates for our dessert table and sweetheart table! Shelly has a gorgeous collection that went perfectly with my vintage-rustic-romantic wedding!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental

Southern Vintage Table Event – The Grace of a Vintage Teacup

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental
Photo by Krystal Kast Photography
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental
Photo by Krystal Kast Photography

Photos are coming in from this year’s wedding receptions and we are so pleased to share them with you!  Today’s post features table settings from Sara and Brook’s April wedding at Fearrington Farms in Pittsboro, captured by Krsytal Kast Photography.

Sara and Brook choose a mix of our vintage blue & white plates along with a variety of floral patterns. The little gem on the tables were our vintage mixed and matched teacups. Don’t you love how these were gracefully styled at each place setting?  We certainly do!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental
Photo by Krystal Kast Photography

Thank you, Sara & Brook, for sharing these photos with us. It was our extreme pleasure to help with your wedding celebration!


SVT Logo 2016

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Retro, Chunky, & Cool Coffee Mugs

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs

No doubt, we L-O-V-E vintage glassware – the colors, heft, patterns, and textures – but today we want to give centerstage to their counterparts – vintage coffee mugs. Over the last few years we patiently have accumulated an array of colors, shapes, styles, and patterns and, until now, they have been stored away, waiting for the right occasion.

We have two upcoming events where these mugs will make an appearance – a Boho styled shoot this Friday with HoneyBee Mine Events at the 1870 Farm and a wedding reception in October. These hearty mugs will complement our vintage casual and stoneware plates wonderfully!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs

Southern Vintage Table Vintage MugsMany of these mugs are probably from the 1960s-1980s when shades of browns, yellows, and greens were trendy.  Some are from Japan but most were made here in the United States by companies such as Buffalo China, Syracuse China, Homer Laughlin, Shenango China, and Fire King.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs

We know we have at least 80 solid retro mugs in our inventory but we also have some chunky patterned ones to pull out. We think you’ll be crazy about these, too!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Mugs


SVT Logo 2016

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Vintage Centerpiece Jam Session

Vintage Decor at Southern Vintage Table

Today is centerpiece creation day! We’ve pulled samples of  of our vintage items – milk glass vases, tins, small silver-plate trays, books, candle holders, petite art, and such – and we are ready to work with our engaged couple to help them design unique reception centerpieces.

Vintage Tins and Milk Glass at Southern Vintage Table

We’ve measured a space equal to one of their tables, set it with plates, and will be filling the center with a collection of wonderful vintage treasures.  Our goal will be to create a set of vignette formulas for their tables so there’s both cohesiveness yet unique-ness for each table.

Vintage Art and Candle Holders at Southern Vintage Table

Vintage Pewter and Brass at Southern Vintage Table

Want to know more?  Please visit our post –  Vintage Feature – Announcing Our Centerpiece Packages – and our page with our pricing  Vintage Centerpiece Packages.


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Join Us On Instagram!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC“So, are you on Instagram?” she asked.
“No,” I replied, “but we’re on Facebook and Pinterest.”
“Oh, if you were on Instagram you could see how the tables turned out.”
“Dang,” I’m thinking. “Do we really want another social media account to manage?”
The answer turns out to be, “Yes, indeed we do!”


That was one year ago when a wedding planner explained that she would be posting photos of our vintage centerpieces on her Instagram account. We really, really wanted to see how they turned out so that night we did it – we opened up an account. It didn’t take long to understand why folks love this mobile social media app.

Instagram may be our favorite way to share our wares and see what others are doing. We still appreciate our connections through Facebook and Pinterest, but we absolutely love that Instagram is all about photos. For a visual business like ours, when we post our recent find or photos from an event, the post is fed to all of our followers. They get to see what we are doing and, in turn, we get to see what’s new with all the folks we are following.  With the hashtag feature, users can search for photos on a topic or trend (like #vintageblueandwhite) and connect with us and others who have used this hashtag to describe their photo. It’s quick, uncluttered, and a visual treat. And, did we mention fun?

Blue and White Screen Shot

After one year, we are happily posting and sharing photos, making new connections, and visually exploring the world through others’ experiences. We would love to bring you along. Follow us on Instagram (@southernvintagetable2) and if you don’t yet have an account, consider joining the Instagram community.

We have to warn you up front – it’s addicting. No joke –  you’ll find yourself checking for “likes” on your posts, looking through your feed, and searching hashtags for things you love – like #pugs or #succulents or #foodogs  or even a place, like #ncmountains – and you’re hooked. A good thing, however, is if you are looking for an inspiration, waiting for an appointment, or drinking your first cup of coffee in the morning, you have Instagram to fill that time in such a delightful way!

Here are couple of things you should know before you sign up. Instagram is meant to be a mobile app which means you take photos from your phone and upload them from your phone. On a laptop you can create and view your account, edit your descriptions, “like” others posts, and do searches but you cannot upload photos. There probably are ways around all of that but the notion of “instant-ness” is its intent. Another cool feature is that you easily can share your IG posts to your Facebook so your FB friends don’t miss out on that cool thing you just did or saw.

Lastly, you can make your account private which means only folks you have invited can view your photos but you still can view accounts that are public. In other words, you can look through the Instagram window without opening your Instagram door!

For those who may not be ready to take the leap, we now have our Instagram feed coming in our home page and we also placed it below for you to get a quick look. Listen to Eleanor and jump in!

Do one thing every day that scares you.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt (verybestquotes.com)


(Please note that we are not @southernvintagetable as you might think. We stumbled at first and created this account but couldn’t figure out how to delete it so we became @southernvintagetable2. We are still working on how to get rid of the first one!)

Southern Vintage Table Instagram


Here’s our feed and an easy “Follow” button if you are already part of the IG craze!

[wdi_feed id=”2″]


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – It’s August and We’re Back!

Southern Vintage TableOur summer hiatus is over and we are back! Our weekly Sunday blog post picks up today and lots of things have happened in July. Truthfully, we can’t check off several things on our to-do list, but we are here today to celebrate two triumphs.

1. We hit 100!

Whoop, whoop!  We now have 100 white dinner plates in our inventory. If you want a clean, crisp palette with unique touch, we have a mix of white and cream china/stoneware patterns that will add a cool factor to your tables.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

2. We went for gold!

We finally did it – got the gold spray paint out and transformed a few pieces.  We’re going to hold off sharing all of our make-overs, but here’s one that’s like, Wow.  Feature this stunner on your table to reflect a beautiful bouquet or use it as a gleaming sign. Many possibilities!

Thanks for your visit.  We thought this quote expressed our sentiments about why, alas, our to-do list is still a bit too long.

“Doing nothing is hard; you never know when you’re done.”
coolfunningquotes.com 

Exactly.


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – This Week’s A-ha Moment

Savor your aha moment

Sometimes it just happens, sometimes it takes time, and sometimes you have to work at it. I’m talking about that magical a-ha moment.  Maybe it’s as simple as remembering where you left your keys (haha, I experience this a-ha moment several times each week) or finally figuring out something that just takes time and mental energy. The latter happened this week as I was updating our website.

The exasperating thing I finally figured out was how to insert a table on a page and then add photos in the cells. I tried to make this work months ago and, after spending days on it, I finally gave up and figured out how to create slideshows. I knew I would try to tackle this again and this week, with fresh eyes, I looked at it once more. I tried a couple of plug-ins that didn’t work well, and then I returned to the toolbar’s table tab and fiddled with it. Voila, it came to me!  And, the crazy thing was the solution was right there all along. Isn’t this how it oftentimes happens?

After finally registering that “yes, it did work,”  I savored this long-awaited a-ha moment for just a moment longer and began to realize how much this was going to change the style of the website. I dug in and began revamping our inventory pages. This was my focus all week – setting up tables, finding and resizing images, taking more photos, redoing the header menu, and so forth.  I still have more to do but I am really pleased with the progress.

As an example, here’s the table from the Vintage Collections page. I hope you’ll agree it is visually pleasing and easier to view our extensive vintage collections!

China
China

Glassware
Glassware

Southern Vintage Table Vintage Flatware Rental NC
Flatware

Serving Dishes
Serving Dishes

Linens
Linens

Silver-Plate
Silver-Plate

Hope you have a fabulous week and month ahead. We’ll be taking a break from our blogging schedule for the month of July. Look for a new post on Sunday, August 7th!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rentals NC

Vintage Feature – An Antique Teapot Steeped in History

Southern Vintage Table

Oh, my goodness, you are going to LOVE the historical connections to this pretty vintage teapot. Recently we found it on the shelf at one of our favorite thrift stores, *Paws4Ever in Hillsborough. We really liked the size of this pot – it can hold 12 cups of tea – as well as the pink roses and gold detailing. What we didn’t realize at the time is that this vintage teapot is actually an antique, probably made in the late 1800s or possibly early 1900s. But the story becomes so much more interesting …

Southern Vintage Table

We began our search with the mark on the bottom – Oscar Gutherz Limoges. The google search came up with several images of pieces by this china company but we couldn’t  find this particular pattern. Finding the bit of information about the company, however, gave us pause because it lead us to estimate its age – at least 100 years old!

Oscar Gutheaz Mark

“Oscar Gutherz had originally started a porcelain decorating business with Maximilian Marx in Altrolau in 1884, using financial backing from the American importer Lazarus Straus & Sons. The company subsequently expanded into porcelain production.” – Porcelain Zone

We couldn’t find much more about Oscar so we looked into the American importer, Lazarus Straus & Sons. This search was the key to the astounding historical connections to this teapot. Here are the highlights:

  • First, you should know that Lina Gutherz, the sister of Oscar Gutherz (the maker of this teapot) married Nathan Straus, the son of the Lazarus Straus, the American importer who financially supported her brother’s porcelain business. This piece of information, which we found on Geni, was pivotal to understanding the rest of the story.
  • Lazarus Straus (the father of Nathan who would marry Lina, the sister to Oscar the teapot maker) immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1852 and settled in Georgia. After peddling wares to families with a cart, he opened a dry goods store. The success of his store made it possible to bring his wife and children, which included 4-year old Nathan, over to America.
  • The Civil War disseminated Lazarus’ business so he moved with his family to New York and began his porcelain import business. His sons joined him and it was on a business trip abroad that Nathan met Lina (sister to Oscar the teapot maker), instantly fell in love, and married. Nathan returned to America with his new bride.
  • Lazarus Straus & Sons, after renting the basement of Macy’s department store in New York City to sell their imported porcelain, eventually became partners with RH Macy. In 1887 Nathan and his brother, Isidor (brother-in-law to Lina, the sister to Oscar the teapot maker), bought Macy’s. There’s so much history about this American department store we couldn’t include it in this post except for this little bit. Macy’s star logo was chosen because the original owner, RH Macy, had it tattooed on him when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship as a teenager. You have to love this!
  • In 1912 Isidor and his wife (in-laws to Oscar who made the teapot) bought tickets to sail on the Titanic. Alas, they were not on the survivor’s list.
  • Nathan and Lina’s son, Nathan, Jr. (the grandson of Oscar the teapot maker) attended Princeton and then went overseas to study at Heidelberg University in 1908. He befriended art scholar, Otto Frank, and convinced Otto to come to New York to work with him at Macy’s. When Otto’s father died, Otto returned to Germany and fought in WWI.  Because of growing antisemitism in Germany, he took his family to Amsterdam and asked for Nathan Jr.’s help to bring his family to the United States. Nathan Jr. tried but the visas for the Frank family were denied. After being discovered in the hidden rooms above his shop, Otto and his family, including daughter Anne Frank, were sent to the Nazi concentrations camps. Only Otto would survive.

So, in summary, this little antique teapot is steeped in history and the connecting thread is Oscar Gutherz, owner of a porcelain factory, and his sister, Lina. We imagine it was imported to the United States by Lazarus Straus & Sons in the early 1900s from Limoges, France and was placed on a Macy’s basement shelf in New York. Then, soon after, a woman shopping for a large teapot at Macy’s bought this one made by Oscar and took it home. Although we can envision many cups of tea being poured over the years from this lovely pot, we wish we knew more of its story from the time it was bought at Macy’s in the early 1900s to showing up on a thrift store shelf a hundred years later in 2016!

Southern Vintage Table

Serve up a little history at your next tea party with this lovely antique teapot made by Oscar. You may even want to share a little of its historical connections with your guests. (Especially the story of Macy’s star logo!)


Sources:
Porcelain Zone
AJCArchive
Straus Historical Society
The House of Brilliant Glass
Wikipedia – Nathan Straus
Wikipedia – Macy’s
Geni


*We love to support thrift stores with a solid cause and Paws4Ever‘s mission is one dear to many of us – dogs and cats in need. It is a “guaranteed-adoption animal shelter and sanctuary dedicated to improving the lives of cats and dogs through adoption, training and education.” There are many ways to become involved with this caring organization so check them out!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC