Sunday Dishes: Harlequin Platter

Harlequin Oval Platter in Chartreuse. $6.50 at the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall in Phoenix.

Flip That Dish?

One of my favorite Harlequin items is double egg cup:

It is my goal to acquire one egg cup in eleven of the twelve colors produced (I will never have medium green...too rare and WAY too expensive). And I'm almost there. Last night I won an ebay auction for one in gray.

While the gray egg cup is not a rare piece, it is far less available than the rose, spruce, and blue ones pictured above. The final price (before shipping and handling) was $9.99. That's certainly less than I anticipated having to pay.

Shortly after discovering the win, I noticed a new message on my ebay watch page. I thought it was a seller's invoice. Nope! It was another buyer wanting to buy the gray egg cup. And she was willing to pay $30 for it. Apparently, she didn't get home in time to bid against me.

I had never encountered this situation before, and didn't know how to respond. On one hand, a 200% return on my investment sounded quite attractive. But on the other hand, it might be awhile before I find another gray egg cup. And I definitely won't find one for $10! I didn't reply to her offer right away. Instead, I decided to sleep on it.

Early this morning, I received a second e-mail from her. It seems I wasn't moving fast enough for her liking. I wrote back, declining her offer. But I added that if I decide to sell the egg cup, I'll give her first crack at it.

Sunday Dishes: Harlequin Egg Cups

Harlequin Single Egg Cups.

Harlequin Double Egg Cups: the 30's colors.

Harlequin Double Egg Cups: the 40's colors.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Thursday 13: The eBay Edition

Thirteen items I have bought on eBay:

1. Video games. Buying used video games saves big money. The trick is getting the boys to wait for the package to arrive in the mail.

2. College textbooks. I was too lazy to drive to the campus bookstore. Anyway, I think I saved a few dollars this way.

3. Legoland passes. The savings was considerable.

4. Dishes. Lots and LOTS and LOTS of dishes. I wouldn't have a Harlequin collection without eBay.

5. Cell phone accessories. Cheaper than going to the Verizon store...as long as you can find a seller who doesn't charge inflated shipping fees.

6. Glow stick bracelets. I give these out at Halloween instead of candy.

7. A Genie Wireless Keypad. The boys haven't been locked out since we installed this thing.

8. Clothing. Ebay is a great way to get gently-worn designer items for a pennies on the dollar. It also beats facing disappointment when the Anthropologie sale rack has nothing cute in your size.

9. Yu-Gi-Oh cards. These are now sitting at the bottom of a drawer.

10. Pink Legos. Years ago, Kyle wanted more variety for the Lego City he was building. The city has since been dismantled, but he still has the little house I built using the pink Legos. It's now covered in dust.

11. A leaf canister for the pool. What did we ever do without this thing?

12. Vacuum cleaner filters. I couldn't find them locally.

13. A St. Joseph statue that you bury in the ground when you're trying to sell a house. And yes, it worked.

Sunday Dishes: Bluer Than Blue

Here, I have most of my blue Fiesta is on display. There just wasn't enough room for all of it. Colors include Cobalt, Periwinkle, Turquoise, Sapphire, and Peacock.

The Sapphire carafe is one of my favorite pieces.

Blue Plate Special

Sunday Dishes: Harlequin Romance

When I started buying/collecting/acquiring Fiesta a few years ago, it was out of necessity. We had been eating our meals off of these cheap blue melamine plates that I found on a Target clearance shelf. That was fine when the boys were small--nothing ever got broken.

I discovered Fiesta in mid-2004. Q had begun cooking healthy, gourmet-style meals (we didn't know he had Cushing's Syndrome back then...we thought he was just fat). And the melamine just didn't live up to these quality meals. It certainly didn't live up to our very colorful interior decor. Also, the boys were now old enough to handle the privilege of eating off of big people dishes.

Fast forward to now. I have acquired more Post-86 Fiesta than I could possibly use...unless we adopt every child in the neighborhood. And while I still buy the new stuff, I have moved on to collecting vintage ware as well...specifically the Harlequin line.

The yellow salad bowl is a souvenir from our recent vacation. I paid $9.50 for it in an antique shop in Waukon, Iowa. I could have gotten it for less on eBay, but not when shipping costs are factored in. Besides, this was my small way of contributing the local economy.

These double-egg cups are some of my very favorite pieces...the spruce one, in particular. Q bought me spruce and rose for Mother's Day. The blue one was a $2 eBay find.

Someday, Denise. Someday.....

My newest goodie--the rose novelty creamer--arrived on my front porch just yesterday.

The basketweave nut dishes (left) are another favorite. In fact, it was this item that originally got me interested in Harlequin. These little cups are similar in size to those soy sauce dipping bowls at sushi restaurants. I use my single egg cup (right) for holding toothpicks.

Sunday Dishes: Viva La Purple!

Welcome to the first installment of 'Sunday Dishes'. I'm going start using each Sunday's blog post to show off my Fiesta and Harlequin dishes. This will be done in the same spirit as my previous 'Bargain of the Week', which I haven't done in awhile. That's because most of my recent deals have been boring non-bargains (like on Thursday when I paid $2.69/gallon for gas) or dishes. I've been having some good luck finding cheap very affordable vintage ware on eBay. Most of it will be showcased here.



One of the most fun parts of collecting Fiesta is the ability to experiment with different displays, layouts, and color combinations. I do more than feed my family with this stuff. I decorate with it, too. Here, I have Plum, Heather, Cinnabar, and Lilac on display in the kitchen baker's rack.