UNIQUE COLLECTION OF TEAPOTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21377, 21 June 1939, Page 10

UNIQUE COLLECTION OF TEAPOTS

Teapots, teapots, teapots! Antique teapots and teapots that are merely old. Streamlined teapots and quaint teapots. Historic teapots and foreign teapots. Animal teapots which resemble elephants, dragons, crabs, Ashes, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Tomato teapots, lemon teapots, orange teapots, and various other fruits and vegetables. Ducks and beehives, coconuts, and racing cars, and sailing ships—all made into vessels in which tiny brown leaves are steeped to make a social brew. This huge collection, belonging to Mr W. A. Stone, of Sydney, and always on display in his offices, began as a joke, more or less, when a friend of Mr Stone challenged him to collect 250 teapots in five years. The wager was five guineas, to be donated to the Red Cross, says a writer in the "Sydney Morning Herald.” The conversation was overheard by other friends, and that afternoon two parcels were left on Mr Stone’s desk. They contained two teapots. When Mr Stone closed his office door that night he had seven teapots. On the third day he had nine. In this way his collection gradually grew. However, within three weeks of the time designated he still needed seventeen teapots! Consternation reigned! There was a tempest among the teapots. His friends rallied to his support—one friend bringing in six teapots during the afternoon. Nineteen days before the five years were up. Mr Stone was four teapots to the good. That was six years ago. The collection continues to grow, and teapots flourish in every nook and cranny of the office. Not one teapot was purchased. All have been given him by patients and friends as good-will gestures, and every one is listed with the name of the donor, the class, style, and history of the utensil. The skill of the potter, the creative work of the designer, and the most delicate, enduring, and richest colours from the palette of an artist have been employed to compile the pieces in the collection. Friends have not only ransacked the innermost recesses of their china cabinets, but when abroad they have borne the collection in mind, and contributions have been forwarded from London, New York, China, Japan, Scotland, Ireland. Germany, India, Java, Egypt, and Siam. A tiny cream teapot with a curious Japanese design on its smooth Damascene surface came to Australia from Honolulu twenty years ago and now adds its lustre to the Stone collection. It is three inches high. Perhaps the most interesting of all are the colourful ones from the East. A ceremonial teapot from China is resplendent with dragons done in rich Oriental colourings. The tea issues from the dragon’s mouth, the same dragon conveniently providing the handle.

The teapot of “many fishes” affords a curious illustration of the tempting delicacies one can purchase at an Oriental fish shop. Every bit of the surface is covered witli a fish of some sort, from a vivid scarlet lobster to slimy-appearing marine monsters that defy identification.

Among the antiques is a genuine Wedgwood, but perhaps the one which the owner values more than any other is a sturdy, big. glazed brown china teapot nearly a hundred years old. The smallest teapot is made of hand-carved pecara wood. Although no larger than a good-sized marble, il will actually pour tea. Mr Stone was told by a woman who visited the Scotland Exhibition that his teapot was smaller than the one displayed there as the "smallest teapot in the world.”

Twelve teapots, each bearing a coat of arms, make a unique colltction in themselves. Eighteen of the finest teapots—all Wedgwoods are displayed separately.

A cream-coloured racing-car teapot, brought back from New York by an American friend, is kept in a showcase, with several others of the more unique styles.