My Latest Find

A week ago I was out with my sister-in-law again on a junking foray. It's the first time in a while I've nabbed items that, on researching, have really surprised me. It seems I hit on some valuable items without even realizing it--keeping in mind that "valuable" is a relative term.

Today I want to show you this rather striking china piece. Or pottery piece. Or ceramic piece. (Is there a difference? Beats me.)

Inside the lid one finds the maker's mark, it's "Toyo".

The whole piece has that sort of atomic feel to it, very mid-century. Modernist, maybe? Anyway, it's pretty cool. I found one little glitch in the lid, where there appears to be a tiny chip-like dent, but as it's beneath the glaze and smooth to the touch, this must have been a flaw made in manufacturing and not actual damage:

You can see it somewhat in the very first photo also, if you look closely.

Anyway, I went to the web to find out something about "Toyo, Japan" but, while I found some examples of other works they produced, I haven't been able to learn a thing about the company, itself. When was active? Is it still active? When was this intriguing little dish produced?

I did find three items which appear to be of the same design line, or quite similar. 

I found photos of two of these ball vases on ebay. One sold for about $33. And the other for about $25.

Then I found this stunner on a site called Chairish, which sold for $48. From this site I learned that the pattern is called "Velocity" and that it was made in the 1970's. That's a bit later than I would have thought. I was guessing late 1950's, early 1960's.

Right now I see one active listing on ebay for this Velocity vase/, for sale as a "Buy It Now" for $33.99. (Pity the seller didn't wipe the fingerprints off the vase before photographing it!)

www.ebay.com/itm/Superb-Toyo-Japan-Velocity-Vase-Mid-Century-Modern-Vase-Black-Vase-Color-Stripes/301074489290

Anyway, here I am now with a lovely, obviously collectible little covered dish which I picked up for a song at a thrift shop, and now I have to figure out a reasonable resale price and decide whether to go Etsy or eBay with it. Any advice welcomed!

Next post I hope to show you some quite captivating little books I picked up on the same outing, which have also turned out to be worth way more than I paid for them. Right now the computer's moving like a turtle and the winds are kicking up for a storm, so I'm going to sign off. 

See you soon, again, I hope!

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