Yes I really lucked out with thoughtful gifts this Christmas, so here is my last report. A gorgeous vintage coffee set from the fella’s brother and wife, carefully chosen to cover off my great loves of coffee and crockery. Isn’t it a beaut?

I recognised the pattern, but didn’t know its name, until I visited a friend with a wonderful array of 50s-70s crockery in her kitchen. She had an identical set sitting on the shelf. It was her granny’s, she told me. A bit of Googling revealed that the print is Black Velvet, designed by John Russel for Hostess Tableware, and dating from around 1971. His earlier designs for Midwinter Pottery are listed in the V&A. Needless to say building a set of kitchen shelves in Margate to display this lovely set, as well as other pieces given to me by my family, has gone to the top of my priority list (ha! – my ‘list’. Expect completion by 2020ish). The same sister in-law, who has a wonderful magpie eye for vintage, shared a post on Facebook about this baby:

It’s a Glasgow 800 mug, produced for Glasgow’s 800th anniversary in 1975. Every school child in Glasgow was given one at the time – a bit like a Charles and Di mug, but you can enjoy it even if you’re not a royalist. I love the earthenware look and the groovy 70s logo. Questioning the fella – the Glaswegian fella – about this, hoping he might have one in the attic that I could rediscover and coo over, he told me that the logo is in fact the Glasgow city crest, and can be found in various forms all over the place. And he also told me that as a small resident of Paisley rather than the city itself at that time, he hadn’t got a mug. Shame. But now I know what I’m looking for in the charity shops of Glasgow next time I visit. Really need to build those shelves….