All the World to Our Door

In 1962, Harold Holdcroft designed a china pattern for Royal Albert, a pottery company in England. Old Country Roses represented a summer English country garden in bloom, made of fine bone china, and one of the most popular patterns in the world.

I saw my first piece at Pontiac Pottery, a cup and saucer that drew me to a table stacked with bone china cups and saucers. I drooled over it long enough to return and buy it, and used it from then on for tea and coffee.

In 1991, Mannheim Steamroller produced a compilation of music called Sunday Morning Coffee, with my cup and saucer displayed on the cover. Turns out to be the favorite of producer Chip Davis’s grandmother for her Sunday morning coffee.

Over the years, my brother Dave has gifted me with an entire set of plates, bowls, teaware, cups, saucers, mugs, and assorted accessories of the gorgeous Old Country Roses china, so when I inherited Mom’s Autumn Leaf dishes, I gave them to him.

Mom had an impressive set, if somewhat chipped from years of use.

The familiar Autumn Leaf pattern began in 1933 by the Hall China Company for the Jewel Tea Company until the pattern was discontinued late 1970.

Why is this important?

Because one of the highlights of my childhood was a visit by the Jewel Tea man in his truck, filled with dishes, tea, dish soap, and shampoo. Mom ordered her dinnerware, piece by piece, including a gravy boat, serving dishes, custard cups, casserole dishes, milk jugs, and of course, plates.

They were our Sunday and holiday dinnerware, and I can still see the largest serving bowl topped with mashed potatoes.

Even more popular to us were the Taystee Bread truck and Borden’s Milk truck.

Besides loaves of fresh bread, Taystee also delivered large cans of Charles Chips. Like our New Era potato chips, the bags held crisp, salty heaven.

Our loyalties leaned toward Twin Pines Dairy because of Milky the Clown, but our Borden’s Milk was delivered in glass bottles with cream collected on the top.

In our day, everyone knew Elsie the Cow, Borden’s icon.

She was an actual Jersey cow from the Elm Hill Farm in Brookfield, Massachusetts, seven years old at the time of her discovery, with the original name of You’ll do Lobelia. She was gentle and didn’t mind being paraded with the trademark daisy chain around her neck for appearances. (Rumor has it that her husband, Elmer, is pictured on glue bottles.)

Mom and Dad loved cream in their coffee, but occasionally we got a taste. In a family of eight, we must have gone through a lot of glass milk bottles, a lot of loaves of bread.

I can still hear the clink, clink of the milk bottles in their carrier being dropped off, and the empties picked up.

The squeak of brakes as the trucks pulled into our driveway to drop off treats.

The smiles and crisp uniforms of our regular drivers.

Only the Good Humor truck was more anticipated.

But that’s another story.