I have a lot of little collections. Silk roses - different shades of pink and ones that are real looking. I keep them in a crystal vase on a table in my living room. One day my brother David who rarely visits asked me who sent me the bouquet of roses. LOL I think the most expensive rose in the vase cost me $5.95 Royal Doulton figurines - I have a few, wish I had just a few more. I inherited a couple of them including the toby jugs. My Grandma had many Royal Doulton figurines. Royal Doulton Bunnykins pieces - pre 1970 Vintage Pyrex - my collection is huge - everything from old Flame Ware, vaccum coffee pots, bowls, dishes, mugs, salt and pepper shakers, custard cups, butter dishes, cracker and cookie barrels, cookware, tea pots, coffee urns with stands, platters, bread makers, roasters, measuring cups, rolling pin, turkey basters, nesting bowls, regrigerator boxes, casserole dishes, etched pieces. I am looking for old Pyrex baby bottles now - I only have one in my collection. I display a few pieces in my kitchen, I use a couple of Pyrex refrigerator boxes and small bowls to hold my jewelry on my dresser. LOL Anything that says Pyrex on the bottom I want it. I used to be able to buy pieces for under $1.00 at thrift stores, but not anymore. Many people have ruined old Pyrex by using it in the microwave. English Bone China - Tea cups and saucers, some I have bought myself, most I have been given or inherited. I have one box in my closet full of tea cups and saucers that my Aunt Joan gave me but have no place to display them. I use my tea cups and saucers. I have little bone china jam pots and egg coddlers, boiled egg cups. Crystal - I love anything crystal. I use my crystal cream and sugars with my tea cups and saucers. I inherited a big crystal basket that I love. Egg cups - I have a few that I treasure - one of them is a monkey wrapped around the part that holds the egg which is from the 1950's. Christmas decorations - old beads for the tree, cardboard houses for my mantle or Christmas items from the 1950's or before. 101 Dalmation Christmas pieces - my brother finds these for me. They are so cute and some of the pieces move or do something. Avon china dolls - I have them displayed on my dresser but am thinking of putting them away. I put the Irish doll in the living room for St. Patrick's Day. Buttons - I have old tins, mason jars, and boxes filled with buttons I have bought from estate sales, and yard sales. I love sorting through them. I don't know which ones would be worth money as some collectors do. Old board games and game pieces including dice. Old marbles -white with swirls. Old cross stitched or pieces and embroidered linens that strike my fancy and old cross stitch patterns. Woodens thread spools/ Pins/brooches - I have many that I wear - don't often leave the house without some kind of pin or brooch. My favourites are my Cladaigh brooches - don't know if I spelled that right. LOL I also often wear a little wooden mouse with blue jeweled and a suede tail my sister gave me when I was 4 years old. Matchbooks - I used to collect them - I have many from around the world, a couple from the Air France Concord. Many of from places I could only dream about visiting. Walkers/wobblers - I don't know the correct name for them. Toys from the 1950's or earlier. Hard plastic figures like Mickey Mouse or Hannah Barbera cartoon characters. They had little wheels under them - you would put the toy on a slanted surface and they would walk/wobble down to the bottom. I have about 7 of these I have collected over the years. Cookbooks - vintage, I love all community cookbooks put out by the Junior Leagues or churches because most of the recipes are tried and true. Hardcover books on the English Royal family. Old hardcover books that might strike me as interesting or because of the artwork. Minature doll furniture from the 1950's of 1960's. I am just starting to collect little 3" colourful gnomes or trolls. Royal Albert Poinsettia discontinued china. I have quite a few cups and saucers. I am always on the search for any sized plates, tea pot, tiered cookie plate. I don't buy anything on ebay so I hunt around at yard sales and antique stores for them. I want to collect enough pieces for a set of 4 place settings or at least breakfast or dessert settings. I collect so much - but don't want a lot of any one thing. LOL There is so much more that I haven't even mentioned. LOL Anne

I have a set of white porcelain that I love. I bought them piece-by-piece at Marshall's 20 years ago, and there isn't a chip on any of them. Food looks beautiful on white plates. I also have a mismatched set of colored plates and bowls - reds, purples, green, orange, yellow - that I set out deliberately to collect whenever I saw a piece or two on sale. I love to use those with certain meals. Both sets are mixed in my kitchen dish cupboard, and I pair every meal with the right color dish. Part of the fun of cooking is presentation for me, and I love setting a pretty table. I think you'll love having white dishes.

Theclose - I just came over here from the Replacements site, where I was looking at the pink Memory Lane, which I love! I inherited Johnson Bros Colonial America from my mother and am thinking that Memory Lane might be a nice addition. That pattern brings a smile to my face. Regarding the problem of being manufactured in China, Replacements lists the country of origin on its transferware, either Britain or China. Items from Britain are still available, TG, because posters on the site are complaining about the inferior quality of transferware coming from China. I wish that my mother could see this thread. She would be amazed to learn that simple things she treasured 80 years ago are still going strong!

The only toy that I remembered really loving was a toy electric organ. But it broke. Remember taking it apart and knowing what was needed to fix it. Definitely would not be the Tinker Toys. We played with them a lot; so much that they wouldn't stay stuck together. I think that is when I learned to cuss. I would have loved Legos but they weren't around (in the US) when I was a kid. Did have a lot of dolls but was never into playing with them much. As I got older, I was more into trying to make clothes for them on my mom's sewing machine but wasn't very good at that. Prolly where I got my second lesson in cussin'. So, no there aren't any toys that I wished I still had...but I do wish that I had had Legos so I could miss not having them now. :-) Best toy was the sandbox that Dad built for us. He built a brush arbor (primitive pergola covered w/ cut willow branches) over it so we had shade. We spent hours out there with those die cast metal cars...the larger ones that were forerunners to Hot Wheels...building roads & tunnels. And a couple of bigger earth movers--Tonkas or Tonka like. The cars were more fun than the Tonkas. Next best was the Red Wagon and then my bicycle.