Vintage Johnson of Australia

  

A recent vintage purchase were these great Johnson of Australia retro stoneware dinner Plates. I'm very familiar with the Johnson of Australia stoneware dinner sets, that these lovely plates originally came from. They were the everyday crockery in our home, when I was growing up. Our family had a number of J of A wonderfully patterned dinner sets over the years.

The patterns I remember most are, yellow roses that came with dark brown bowls and saucers. And  Autumn leaves, that had mustard coloured bowls and saucers. I can't remember really liking either of those patterns at the time, I think as a child, I found them a little somber. Though my feelings toward the crockery could have something to do with the fact, that we weren't allowed to speak at the dinner table! Well I imagine seven little voices given free range could give any parent indigestion!

Don't get me wrong, I have many many fond memories of meals served and family moments amidst the various patterns of my childhood, including these. But as far as the actual patterns were concerned... 
well I suppose to me it was just crockery.

But I do wish I had eaten my childhood meals from dishes with this bright spring garden pattern, with its cute little blue  flowers (forget me not ?)  Or these ( groovy! ) fun daisies. These I'm sure are patterns a child would love. Just Imagine, even if your nightly meal was a calm and orderly - definitely no speaking affair, you could still have calm, orderly and quiet enjoyment, uncovering these bright blooms as you ate your food.

Now I`m not sure if the patterns we did have in our family home were my mothers preference, or if they were the patterns produced in those particular years. Or perhaps they were the only ones available at the time she needed a new dinner set. Well I should say sets, as we were a family of seven children and I'm sure I and my siblings, probably broke quite a few dishes with our rowdy rat-baggy ways. Or with an accidental soapy slip of the hand, during the much hated dish duty!

Whether those were our mothers favourite patterns or not, the one thing I am sure of, is that the now - vintage Johnson of Australia dinner sets, would have been a god send for her. With the multitude of patterns in similar colour ranges, along with the solid colours of the bowls and saucers. I can see how she was able to mix the various pieces that were left from one set and match it with another, yet still have some continuity, and perhaps a bit of whimsical fun!

As the name suggests these stoneware dinner sets were made here in Australia.The factory opened in Croydon, Queensland in 1957 as a subsidiary of Johnson Brothers in England.Thousands of these dinner sets and other assorted pieces were produced during the 70s and 80s, in a multitude of patterns. How many? and what are the pattern names?
These are Questions we can not answer at the moment. There seems to be very little information available about pattern names or dates of production. Which is quite a nuisance, especially for Me as its just the sort of thing she likes to jump into and delve around in. But she shall keep up the research and see what  can be snooped out.

Nameless or not, many of the patterns we are seeing around the web lately are so lovely, with their bright colours and great retro looks. Milk jugs, sugar bowls and butter dishes are appearing from the nooks and the crannies of many a household. Jam dishes, cake plates and best of all, we have heard, but sadly not seen, that there are tea pots !!

I can feel a new vintage craving coming on!I want more of these wonderful patterns brightening my day. I would like to drink from the many cups with their lovely vintage patterns, and if I didn't eat my dinner on dishes I loved as a child, well I certainly can now! 

I can picture it exactly. All the fun I will have searching for, and finding, the various pieces. Then mingling together the different patterns, and mixing together the base colours of  brown, yellow mustard and green. 

This will match with....

That.

These poppies can go with...

This.

 And definitely that.

And these will go with...

 

That, goes with this.

Goes with those!

Matched and Mixed Up Sets! Yes, a definite winner in my books. Swap and change around depending on your mood (or personality in our case).  And this last one is my absoluuuute favourite, so retro! I like this last one so much, I might just have to try and find a whole set.

So dear readers, I am bound for some homegrown hunting for vintage Johnson of Australia stoneware retro pieces. Wish me luck!

She


Update.... 
There has been a concerted effort to find pattern names by some lovely people, and they have gathered quite a few. So if you are interested in the pattern names, you can find them on Facebook and Pinterest.

A number of  pieces shown here are courtesy of the wonderful  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThatRetroPiece   

The yellow rose pattern and first cup are courtesy of the delightful  https://www.etsy.com/shop/HobartCollectables 

 

Fire King Favourite

Hi everyone

Today I wanted to talk about something we totally love....

Fabulous Fire King pieces in the colour Copper Tint. These lovely ovenware items were made by Anchor Hocking and produced between 1958 and 1971.

Photo courtesy of  Sara from  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CraftySara?ref=pr_shop_more

We just adore this wonderful soft and feminine colour. It has a depth to it that is calm and serene, bright but definitely not flashy. It is a perfect compliment to the milk glass it covers and of course this means it will match beautifully with other milk glass or white glass pieces.

 I'm sure we are not alone in this love.Not only because it is a tint, which is basically a pastel, and they are usually associated with women. I'm sure others love it because - it is sweet - and bright - and well perfect!

 We had come across this colour before, and loved it.Though we rarely get to see it in person,especially here on the Sunshine Coast.The few pieces we have found have mostly been very worn.

We believe the reason for this great lack of Copper Tint is due to a number of facts.
 One, that we have never had any where near as much Anchor Hocking (Pyrex,Glasebake) here in Australia, as they do in the original home of these great and delightful home wares, the U.S.

Two, because it is so lovely the Copper Tint pieces were favourite kitchen items for their owners and subsequently became extremely well used.A few decades later and many pieces have been put to the trash! Sadly judged as too worn for even the charity shop or garage sale.

Random  (cranky from lack of copper tint ) thought:

Alas, we are sorely deprived in some ways here on our continental island home. 

Do you know why we are easy going here in OZ ? .... 
Its because we have learned to live with having less to choose from!

The great Australian term - She'll be right mate -
 We believe actually came about from the women being upset with having a minimal amount  of goods to choose from.
 And the husbands using that phrase,when his friends inquired why the little lady was so upset!

Cranky thoughts aside.We do occasionally come across some good pieces worth purchasing in our favourite colour. When we found these little lidded ramekins a few months ago, they had us falling in love with Copper Tint all over again.

We not only love the colour, we think the shapes are wonderful as well. After purchasing these She and Me decided on the spot to begin a small collection of Copper Tint pieces.

Yes,occasionally our thoughts are in total unison (well we are the same person after all!)

So far the only other pieces we have found locally in collectable condition are these two pie dishes.

 A few of She's friends have heard me speaking about Copper Tint and have come to inspect our Fire King favourite as well. You will have to excuse them ( they are such sticky noses! but She loves them anyway --- Yes, OK I like them too! )

This is Brown Bird and Ima Deer, investigating the pie dishes.  

And this is Penny Ponytailess who has also come for a look-see.

Oven ware pieces in this colour are not hard to find online, especially in the U.S. The items we have our eyes on to add to the collection next,will be some of these lovely little custard cups with the scolloped rim.I'm sure the custard will taste so much better when eaten out of a cute little Copper Tint  custard cup.

photo courtesy of Amy and Steph  https://www.etsy.com/shop/32LumasLane?ref=pr_shop_more

            

Now there is one small unhappiness marring our love for Copper Tint - besides not having a whole collection of our own! And that's the fact that so many many people name our adored Copper Tint -  gasp... the wrong colour!!

I'm afraid it is so -  Yes it is a fact
 Many people mistakenly call it Peach Lustre!

Now peach lustre is a Fire King colour,but it is a decidedly different colour.
 Here is an example below.

 

This is a wonderful little Laurel pattern - Peach Lustre - creamer.
The lustre is darker and shinier and often looks to have an orange tinge to it.
Peach Lustre is bold and can not be missed, it calls out, Yes here I am, I'm sure you noticed me.
 Compared to the pearl look of Copper Tint is much easier on the eye acquiring notice with a subtle softness.

Now we are sure that we our self make many vintage faux pas, and we apologise now for any and all we have made or will make.
If any one would would like to set us straight on any thing, we are only to happy to hear about it. Of course we don't enjoy being wrong,but we would rather be told of our error than left to repeatedly make the mistake.

We can see that it can be very difficult to tell the colours apart in photographs unless they are next to each other. As our own photos, with their varying light have so clearly shown. So we make no judgements of anyone or their abilities,taste,or eyesight.

We purely wish to make the difference known.
 So our lovely Copper Tint can stop being under appreciated by this misnomer.
This post was written to help spread the word out in vintage land - in the oppies on Etsy and eBay - in the markets and the vintage stores.Every where that these wonderful pieces have to suffer being known as faded Peach Lustre!

 So if you have made this error yourself.

Or you do come across it, and find yourself in a position to assist these wonderful vintage pieces claim their true title, please do so. 

Of course please correct the error in a very soft Copper Tint sort  of way!

With your help, we know that one day Copper Tint ovenware items will be known by their true name.

And our love for this sweet vintage finish will be wholly without flaw.

Me