I called into the excellent new junk shop again yesterday morning and came away with four nice vintage Irish linen tea towels. Much as I really like all the designs, I have more tea towels than I know what to do with - one of which I know for a fact I bought in Habitat almost 30 years ago, and it's still going strong (which either says a lot about how well it was made or, more likely, how infrequently I use it to dry my dishes), so all of them have been listed on ebay.
I've had some reasonable successes with re-selling vintage linen tea towels and, round here at least, they are not that difficult to find.
I don't think any of these have actually been used for drying dishes, more likely they were pinned up and displayed in a kitchen or kept folded up in a drawer.
This one depicting the original Severn Bridge is lovely and reminds me of being taken by my Dad to see the Queen when she opened the bridge in 1966. I vividly remember being told off by a policeman for standing where I wasn't allowed to (I was desperate not to miss seeing the Queen and saw a gap in the crowd and so headed for it - big mistake!) I also remember moaning and whinging when Dad decided he wanted to walk across the bridge over to Wales. Not sure how far we got as my little six-year-old legs really couldn't cope. It was a memorable occasion though and one I'm very pleased I was a teeny tiny part of.
I've found a few of these tea towels in CS's a few months ago. They are MUCH better quality than the ones I bought a few months back brand new in a shop.
Like yours mine had only been used for display some had tags even
Posted by: sharie | 02/25/2011 at 03:35 PM
I love the Severn Bridge one. Must be some artistic license though because whenever I go back and see family in Wales there certainly isn't a blue sky above it!
Posted by: Lakota | 02/26/2011 at 12:16 PM
Gorgeous and I particularly like the one with the chicks:)
Posted by: Maureen | 02/27/2011 at 02:13 AM
Oh my word, Elisabeth, those tea towels are fabulous. I'm very envious. Haven't seen any decent ones for an age.
Posted by: Loo xx from Jumbles and Pompoms | 03/03/2011 at 07:20 PM