Farmhouse decor is all about old favourites, the hefty antique dresser passed down through generations and spongeware jugs and mugs with pastoral charm printed with ducks and flowers. It's a home made of timeless, well-made pieces with long standing heritage.
Rooted in tradition, think old country houses and the hard-working rustic kitchens of a time gone by, many of these now vintage and antique pieces remain highly coveted for their decorative uses, even if the pieces are no longer needed or fit for their original use.
Here's three of our favourite antique finds, the history behind them and what you need to know before you buy...
Jelly moulds
Regency and Victorian diners were inordinately fond of jellied food. These gravity-defying creations, set in intricate moulds, would send guests a-quiver with delight. Used for sweet and savoury dishes, moulds could shape all manner of epicurean treats with dazzling names such as flummery and blancmange.
A century later, although the fashion for wobbly puddings has waned, fans of kitchenalia are keen as mustard for original moulds.
Some of the earliest commercial jelly moulds were made from stoneware and earthenware; from the mid-1700s, white and cream salt-glazed moulds were produced in a cheerful array of animal designs such as hedgehogs, fish, swans and shells, and fashionable subjects such as stars, moons and pineapples. Copper moulds started to make an appearance from the 1780s. Expensive at first, by the mid-19th century, most well-to-do homes would have had a selection of copper jelly moulds in their kitchens.
Cheaper tinplate versions became widely available by the end of the 1800s, putting them within the reach of working-class families, while the early 20th century heralded the age of the universally affordable aluminium, enamelled and glass versions, the last of these often imported from America and Czechoslovakia.
What to look for
- If you’re starting a collection, grab a copy of the comprehensive Jellies and Their Moulds by Peter Brears (Prospect Books) for a potted history of makes and styles.
- Many pottery moulds are unstamped but collectors can find marks of well-known makers such as Wedgwood or Belleek.
- Copper moulds can be equally difficult to attribute but names to look for include Benham & Froud, Copeland and Loveridge.
- Glass moulds are also rarely stamped but you can roughly date Pyrex pieces. Items stamped with JAJ are mid-1970s or earlier, after which the stamp changes to PYREX ENGLAND.
- Common vintage aluminium brands include Tala, Nutbrown, Longliff, Diamond, Helpmate and Swan. American confectioner Jell-O also gave away small ones in the 1950s, with its brand stamped into the base.
- Branded moulds are interesting to collect. A number of companies used transfer printing to put names and recipes on the side of ceramic moulds from 1880 and 1920.
- Pottery moulds’ true beauty is on the inside, so think about how you’ll display them.
Spongeware ceramics
Sponge printing has been around since at least 2,000BC but it was the Victorians – with their love of mass production – who we associate with this simple, rustic decoration.
The technique became popular in the 19th century. It was a cheap way of getting pattern onto crude pottery – the bowls, jugs and plates destined for working-class families – and was a cottage industry, often done by small children and women who were working from home.
Ironically, for such a humble ceramic, spongeware is now hugely sought after – thanks in part to recent revivals by manufacturers such as Emma Bridgewater (seen above), Brixton Pottery and Nicholas Mosse, whose early examples have become collectable in their own right.
Pre-1900 pots tend to command big money, but there is still a rich seam of 20th-century British and American spongeware to mine. Thanks to inherent design similarities between the different eras, vintage, new and antique spongeware crockery will sit very happily side by side on a dresser, jostling for attention.
What to look for
- Get to know makers and patterns. Start with Spongeware: 1835-1935, Makers, Marks and Patterns by Henry Kelly et al. Kevin McConnell’s Spongeware & Spatterware is also worth a read, especially for 20th-century and US patterns.
- Most items aren’t marked, making it tricky to tell between vintage and reproduction. Little flaws, uneven sponging and smears all suggest an older, original piece.
- If the sponging is too perfect, it’s probably a modern reproduction. Factory transfer prints also often ‘overlap’ or have an obvious line where the patterns join up.
- Start with household names such as Poole Pottery, Emma Bridgewater, Arthur Wood, Brixton Pottery or Govancroft. Brixton Pottery cream jugs start at £10, Nicholas Mosse bowls at £30, Emma Bridgewater rare ½-pint mugs at £40.
- If you want to date a piece of Emma Bridgewater pottery, visit her stamp archive dating back to 1990.
- America has a strong tradition of spongeware and spatterware, a folk-art decoration. Check out US sellers on auction sites – they can often be cheaper even with shipping.
Terracotta dairy bowls
These deep earthenware vessels embody the rustic farmhouse aesthetic. Characterised by a wide rim, narrow base and plain terracotta exterior, they often have a glazed white or yellow interior and an overhanging lip. Some have a subtle spout, too. Also called pancheon bowls, they were once the workhorses of the country kitchen, used in the preparation of household staples, for tasks including separating milk from cream and proving bread.
Being made of soft terracotta, old bowls are likely to feature crazing, cracks or chips; combined with the rich patina of their surfaces, these imperfections add to their appeal, revealing their domestic history. Their hand-thrown and humble nature also means that sometimes they’re plain crooked, but this only amplifies their rustic character.
In France, the tian bowl served a similar purpose, as well as being the vessel in which the dish of the same name was baked in the oven. Many have a glazed green interior. Tians and terracotta bowls date from the late 1800s to the mid-20th century, when they fell out of use.
What to look for
- If buying vintage dairy bowls online, ask dealers and sellers for images of the exterior. Be aware that they are sometimes pinned or stapled together on the underside, so it’s important to make sure you inspect them thoroughly.
- Due to their age, these bowls often feature significant cracks and chips, making them unsuitable for their original food-preparation purposes. One alternative use for them is as attractive fruit bowls.
- Small bowls (around 25cm diameter) can be snapped up for as little as £40; large versions (approximately 45cm diameter) in good condition can fetch up to £300.
- Tians can be distinguished by their small handles, large enough to accommodate a single finger, to aid when pouring liquids out of the bowl.
- Wooden dairy bowls are rarer than those made of terracotta, and because of this even a small example can command as much as £200.
- Find a selection on Vinterior, 1st Dibs and Etsy.
Read more on antiques:
- Russell Loughlan: Lessons I learned from my antiques dealer mum
- 7 old fashioned antiques Gen Z and millennials love
- 'Boxed toys are making huge sums - check your attic': 7 vintage and antique pieces soaring in value
Read more about vintage and antiques in our CL specials, available here.
I'm a smallholder, Country Living columnist and expert in rural living, residing in North Yorkshire.
