It was one of those rare sunny January mornings that revealed a significant layer of dust on the shelves displaying my collection of Torquay Motto Ware. I pass by this shelf frequently on a daily basis so I should have noticed it needed my attention; but the cloudy/rainy days of winter had kept it a secret. Since I didn’t consider this an urgent matter, it was a week or more later when I found a segment of time to wash all the pieces and clean and lemon oil the shelves.
If you’re not familiar with Torquay Motto Ware, it is a vintage pottery made in Torquay, Devon, England and its origins go back to 1875. Someone in the area of Watcombe discovered that local clay was good for making pottery pieces, and at some point the items were decorated with a cream-colored glaze with paintings of country houses, and inscribed with inspirational or humorous text. These mottos, or sayings, often were written in a Devon or Cornish dialect.
And so I spend a nostalgic hour or more cleaning the various plates, pitchers, teapots, cups and saucers … reminiscing as to when and where I acquired these quaint pieces with their timeless sayings such as: “Be like the sundial, count only the sunny hours”; “Enough’s as good as a feast”; “May your joys be as deep as the ocean, your sorrows as light as the foam”; “May the hinges of friendship never go rusty”; “No road is long with good company”; “Say little but think much”; “Time ripens all things”; “There’s a time for all things” ... among others.
I don’t recall how or when this collection began. I’m guessing it started during the era of my antique shop business when a piece or two would come up at auctions at a price that allowed a profit when sold. As often happened, in those days of attending auctions and browsing estate and garage sales, I’d purchase something with the intention of adding it to my shop’s inventory.
Then, later, I’d find I couldn’t part with it, and it would end up gracing some already crowded space in our home, possibly birthing a future collection.
But, unlike other collections I’d enjoyed through the years that had come and gone — baskets, trivets, hens on nests candy dishes, Marcrest dinnerware, pyrography pieces, calendar plates, unusual silver spoons and enough milk glass dishes to set a table for 12 — I kept the motto ware collecting under control. Some were gifts, I’d find an occasional piece at a garage sale or flea market, and once I found several pieces in a shop priced lower than they should have been and were not to be passed up.
The pieces I now have fit perfectly on their designated shelf, and floor space in my apartment will not allow more furniture for a larger display. There is always the possibility, however, that a rare or irresistible piece might appear on an antiquing foray that could be squeezed in. As the motto on one of the cups says: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” — definitely words of wisdom.
Jo Ann Parsons is a member of the Jottings Group (Jottings33@gmail.com) at the Lake Oswego Adult Community Center.
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