The Pembroke Diaries
Aynsley Pembroke
A china I've been fond of since before I fell in love with that Wedgwood
But, alas, a china I thought I'd never own!
I feel in love with it in the 70s
But it was pricey and so I loved it from afar!
But then I had a chance to buy a few pieces of turn of the century
Aysnley Pembroke
There is a difference
Plates (the old ones are on the right)
Cups and saucers (again, the old ones are on the right)
You can see a difference!
But Pembroke is Pembroke!
A couple of years ago at a little flea market in El Dorado Springs, Missouri,
I came across this . . .
This stash of Pembroke, 7 plates, 8 cups and saucers, 8 tea plates, 8 sauce dishes, 4 salad plates and three cream soups and 4 cream soup saucers
For $30!
And I left it!!!!
My "I have too much stuff" gene had kicked in along with my "where would I put it" gene
Sigh!
I realized that I had
made a mistake!
And so a week later I went back for it
And it still was there.
It's new --
This is the backstop
Which dates it in the 2000s
But, honestly, any china for $30
It's stupid to pass it up!
A nice lot of pieces. Enough choices to be able to serve any meal
From fruit bowls to salad plates to cream soup bowls and saucers.
Plates and cups and saucers, of course!
It looks nice on a shelf in the china cabinet
Why the "final" chapter
You ask?
It came -- today!
A Pembroke coffee pot
bought on eBay
For far less than even a simple place setting cost back in the 70s
when I really yearned for the china!
It is nice to serve coffee from
When we don't want to use the silver pot!
And it looks nice on the china cabinet shelf
(with the Old Paris tea and coffee service above
And my grandmother's Noritake below)
I don't have serving pieces, alas
But I'm not sure I want them.
The Pembroke is used for "fancy" meals
Not "family" meals
And so we prefer to plate in the kitchen
rather than to serve the food on the table.
So having no service pieces suits us fine.
It's nice when you can write the "Final Chapter"
And getting the coffee pot is that final chapter.
(Although if I saw another set of Pembroke in a flea market for $30, I wouldn't hesitate!)
4 comments:
Those are beautiful!! Thank you for sharing.
I love "Pembroke" too and am so glad you now have a complete set (except for serving pieces and I'm like you, I can take them or leave them). You are just going to love those cream soup bowls!!! I have always wanted some and think they are so neat to have.
It's such a pretty pattern, Martha. Life is short - buy the china....is my motto!
Very late to the party here - just discovered your blog. My father bought me a Pembroke small sugar bowl and creamer on a business trip to Bermuda back in the 70's. He had no idea of the pattern name - he knew what he liked. I had just been accepted to Brown University (Pembroke was the women's college) and we were both pleasantly surprised when we discovered the pattern name. Five sets of purchased and inherited bone china later, I'm still thinking about a Pembroke set. (No, there isn't any place to store it.)
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