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Seems as if everywhere I went this season I saw folks who’ve brought their wonderful collections into everyday viewing somewhere in their homes. This is not because there are so many of each item that the collectibles just have to have a somewhere to be stored. This is also not because television personalities or home beautifying magazines suggest it (although they do). It’s because collectors just love to display the objects which they do delight to collect and talk about!

After all, collectors take great pride not only in showing their finds but telling about their adventures hunting for them, How better to kick off that kind of storytelling than to have everyone see the collectibles right then, right there? Been there? Tell that!

One home I visited this summer has a variety of collectibles displayed — art deco figurines — for one example, but there were some interesting and very meaningful arrangements of collectibles, which really revealed the owners’ particular passions and backgrounds. Take Dr. Chuck Hanneman’s (Palmetto Bay, FL) collection of model vintage cars — his favorite aqua ’57 Chevy convertible on hand both with and without the top down. Seeing this classic car display, you can’t help but take a closer look and hear the details. Right? Of course, you have to know it’ll be a story about his love of full-sized vintage cars!

Then there’s wife Bonnie Hanneman’s family treasures displayed in the dining room on an open chest covered

Sample of Miamians Pat and Leo Rinaldi’s Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates.

with a cutwork linen cloth. There are the four green glass dessert dishes which she long ago found packed away in her mother-in-law’s attic and next pretty pale pink Depression glass dishes including two platters, a vase, and serving dishes, these from her own family’s cupboards. To round out the warm heritage viewing pleasure Bonnie created, she put out two jars of her recently canned cherry tomatoes, a loving annual task she enjoys and which adds a cozy, historical note. Representing the deep memory meaning of her arrangement, she also included a modern blown glass heart created for her by a church friend.

Finally, Bonnie showed me two small, clear candy dishes. “Those came in Duz (dish washing powder),” she was told.

In Miami for a high school reunion, I found another family collection displayed so well it could not be missed, only please the eye and mind. In 1963, my classmate Pat and husband, Leo Rinaldi, were given as a wedding gift what was to be their first Royal Copenhagen (RC) Christmas Plate. This beautiful blue plate, according to RC company records, depicts children playing near the Historic Hojsager Mill. This would be the initial plate in the Rinaldi collection which has spanned more than 40 years. It would a collection which has grown, not only by ordering annual holiday plates from the company or online, but because her daughters have also found some earlier ones at yard sales, where, as Pat explained, people often do not know what they are selling.

Checking with one company, it was learned that the RC firm was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, by F.H. Mueller in 1775. In 1779, Danish King Christian IV took over the business, which apparently was having financial difficulties. That is how it became the Royal Copenhagen factory producing the Christmas plates and other famous lines of porcelain.

Pat says when she first started ordering the Christmas plates, she had to send abroad for each one, but later on, she was able to acquire them annually through an American distributor, thus avoiding the inconvenience of international importing details. When asked about the value of her plates, which now so appealingly decorate the wall of her pretty dining/family room. Pat thought that most plates might be in the $50 range.

The price of all collectibles depends on rarity and, after that, condition.

Some years apparently, according to online research, there are fewer plates still around to collect. However, except for the 1970s and some 1980s editions, there are few plates now worth less than $50 and many worth far more, even editions as recent as the 1990s. As to rarity and value, the first Christmas plate RC produced (1908), entitled “Madonna and Child,” is, according to two online sources, now selling for $5,000-6,000. Hmmm! Now that would be a surprise if found in somebody’s décor. It’s certainly not in Pat’s!

A look at the current eBay auctions of RC Christmas plates shows a wide variety of bids, the 1945 edition, for example, where bidding is now already at nearly $500!

Pat Rinaldi also sets off her blue plate room’s décor with a blue couch and adds colorful depression glassware on her window ledges, one with blue Avon goblet candles, a pitcher and bell; items she found in antique shops.

If you want to learn more about vintage Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates: consult a book entitled Christmas Plates from Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grondahl by Lars Christoffesen. To order at $45, and for details on how to obtain it from Danish Porcelain Imports, call 866-228-9374 or visit www.danishporcelain.com. There also are lists online of the many RC Christmas plates by title.

Look around you now. Is there something you collect — porcelain that would sparkle in a sunny window, brass that would warmly mirror you, jars, bottles, unusual carvings — which your “world” would truly appreciate seeing? Well, then consider bringing it all out of the boxes, the tissue, the trunks, off those enclosed shelves where we can get a gander at it! Consider how the item/items might first have been part of everyday décor in the places where they were first set and/or used? Where have you got it sitting? Is it a sensible place — say andiron in the fireplace — or humorous, say antique spittoon out on the front porch? Is beautiful glass displayed where it looks pretty alone or does it need related or contrasting companion pieces?

Just think. You might get to tell some really good stories about finding and buying precious antique or other notable things along the unending collecting adventure trail.

A portion of the vintage car display in Charles Hanneman’s home, Palmetto Bay, FL.

 photos for Tropical Breeze by Rosemary Potter

© 2006 Rosemary Lee Potter. All Rights Reserved.