Cardew Club News » 2005 » August

By Bob Bamberg

He stuck his head in my office and asked if I had a minute to discuss something important.

“Bob, you need to get the word out about the teapot museum,” the local businessman implored.

“What word?” I asked.

“This is going to be big,” he replied.

I knew what he meant. This was about the third such conversation I’ve had in the past month. All of these individuals recounted an experience similar to my own. When we first heard about plans to build a museum in our little Sparta, to display teapots donated by a California couple, we imagined some nondescript teapot in our past, and a small inner voice asked, “People are going to flock to Sparta to see what?”

Thousands of people have gathered in Morpeth for the start of the country’s biggest tea party.
People from as close as Maitland and as far as Singapore passed through the Morpeth Gallery during the weekend for the beginning of the 15th annual Weird and Wonderful Novelty Teapot Exhibition.

And with nine more days of teapot action left to go, organisers are thrilled with the result.

“The first few days of the exhibition have been absolutely brilliant,” gallery owner Trevor Richards said.

Next to playing with Barbies, tea parties are a favorite activities of young girls. But now, with places like Miss Marenda’s Tea Room is Sparta and Lady Marpelet’s Tea Room in Cookeville, big girls (and not just brides) can have their own tea parties.

Whether it is a traditional English high tea or just the gals getting together, food plays an important part at tea parties. From scones to cucumber sandwiches, the food is often as dainty as the pots and cups that hold the tea.

If you are thinking of having a tea party, here are some helpful hints from hgtv.com:

Traditions in Elegance: 100 Teapots from the Norwich Castle Museum opens at the Tyler Museum of Art shortly, according to Museum spokesman Robert Owen.
This exhibition explores the custom of tea preparation and tea drinking in English life through its most prominent artifact—the teapot. The teapots selected for this exhibition are 100 of the finest 18th and early 19th century examples from the 3,000 in the Norwich Castle Museum’s acclaimed Twining Teapot Gallery.

This exhibition was organized by the Norfolk Museum Services, R. Twining and Company Ltd., and the Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey. It is made possible through the generous support of Twining’s. The exhibition was curated by Steven Klindt and Mary Chandor.

The past 12 months have sent Maitland businessman Peter Hilder potty.

It’s not the state of the economy that has earned the Our Town Pools owner the tag however, but the growing collection of teapots in his office.

Nearing 70 and still expanding, the collection sprang from a simple desire a year ago to find some new containers for his ferns.

“I had this one fern in my office that looked like it was in a teapot and I thought it would be great if I could transplant some more into actual teapots,” he said.

1904, Chung Du city, Szechwan province, China. Jing Hua stops at the local tea house for her daily cup of tea before resuming her journey to the outdoor markets for fresh fruits and vegetables. The tea leaves she orders are common and affordable for everyday consumption — as opposed to what might be bought for entertaining guests or giving as gifts.

“Gift tea would have come from the tips of the stems that are freshly sprouted” — as it still does today — explains Ling Pao, Jing Hua’s great-grandson . “Everyday tea would come from the lower part of the stem and be strong enough to last throughout the day.”

Here are some words of advice and experience from Judy Adamson, orginally published in smh.com:

Becoming an expert in teapots is like gaining expertise in any subject: you’ve got to be informed so you can get good deals and avoid rip-off merchants.

This means reading, spending time in antique shops to look and ask questions - and then reading some more.
“The bargains are in the knowledge,” says Nico Zafir, the owner of decorative arts shop Nouveau Deco.

“You’ve got to understand your subject and then you can go into the market stalls and antique shops and know more than the dealer … because a lot of antique dealers can’t specialise.”