Another year another color! I have recently started collecting black and white enamelware with no real intent on doing so, it just happened, I swear! Or should I say, oops, I did it again!
Sometimes things just fall into your lap and that is how it feels with my new growing collection of black and white enamelware. I don’t recall us having any of this type on our farm. We always had red and white enamelware. Well hang on, that was at my mom’s home farm. But 2 miles down the road, my dad’s home farm might have had some in the sauna. Hmm, I have to think on this a bit.
Note: Enamelware was huge in the early 20th century. Most of these items are from the 40’s and 50’s likely, as they started getting replaced by plastic products in the 60’s.
Beginning to Collect Enamelware
We had moved to the prairies and taken over my mom’s parent’s farm in the early 70’s. Yes, that’s 50 years ago, OMG! At that time we had no running water in the house, a party line and an oil stove for heat. We also had the traditional wood burning sauna for our weekly Saturday cleanup.
I am so glad when I went back to our abandoned farm a few times. In the 90’s, I was able to retrieve a few of the items left behind by our family. This includes some of my red and white enamelware like this large basin and a dipper. Yep, we used those in the sauna.
As I have been building my collection of Red and White enamelware, I have also picked up a couple items along the way in the black and white enamelware category. If you want to see my red and white displays, they start here: My New Farmhouse Hutch.
At a local antique store, while searching for other items, I found this sweet little enamelware pitcher. It’s only 10 ” high, very well worn, with rust holes and all. But it makes a perfect vessel for dried flowers or on its own. The price was pretty low, due to its condition, which didn’t matter to me for display purposes. I couldn’t really resist, could I?
Not long after, last year, I came across this small roasting pan.
I have seen a few chamber pots on the local market over the years, but I just can’t bring myself to buying those, lol. And thinking of that now, I do believe my dad’s mom had a black and white enamelware chamber pot beside the bed upstairs when we used to visit. Crazy how the mind works and things you wouldn’t even have thought about can be recalled.
Large Black and White Enamelware Pitcher
Here is a piece that I found was on my travels home last summer. Another larger pitcher! This one in much better condition and just beautiful.
Then, over Christmas at a craft fair, I found this great black with white speckled coffee pot. Wow, and only $1!
Large enamelware pot with lid
Yesterday I was thrilled to see a couple items on our local online marketplace, this very large black and white enamelware pot with lid (along with a red and white piece). Oh wow! Now I can say my collection has really started. This one I found for $20 CAD, which I think is a pretty good deal considering the size, 12 ” diameter.
Vintage White Enamelware Scale
Oh no, I can’t believe I forgot about my white enamelware vintage scale! It has the black lettering on it, so that counts doesn’t it? I haven’t combined it yet with the other pieces, but it is going to look great. You can see this display here and in my post: Antique and Vintage White Ironstone, I will have to include it next time.
Black and White Enamelware Display
I like adding these black and white enamelware to my Americana style displays. It just doesn’t seem right to show the red and white with the Americana collectibles. To me, Red Enamelware belongs more in the kitchenware category, same with green and white. But black and white, well that’s pretty functional and was used likely everywhere without much fanfare. That’s probably why my memory of it is a bit sketchy.
Here is it, with a photo of the left and right side of the display first, so you can see a few more details. I had to include some vintage black binoculars, a couple of old insulators and tools, and those bottles from our farm. One of the trivets was unearthed along with other finds. See my ‘unboxing farm collectibles’ post.
Here is the full display, so cute! But the scale is still missing…hmmm.
I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more Vintage Black and White Enamelware in my travels. Come back and visit to see what my next find will be! I am enjoying collecting black and white enamelware and arranging these with my other farmhouse treasures. Don’t forget to leave me a comment if they bring back any memories for you.
Latest Update – Feb 2023
I found some new pieces to add to my black and white enamelware collection. Oh wow, once you find one thing, they seem to start popping up everywhere!
The first was a 2nd large canning pot shown on the left, the 2nd was a 3rd black and white enamelware pitcher seen in the middle and the the 3rd was a 2nd dipper, the black one in front.. Omg, so confusing I am seeing triple!
This display is simply overflowing! I am definitely going to have to redo this in one of my hutches, and add that white vintage scale…..ooohhh fun, fun, fun. Come back and visit again to see what the next display looks like as I continue collecting black and white enamelware!
Latest Update – Black and White Enamelware Display
I have created my updated display in my farmhouse hutch, in my next post link here:
Black and White Enamelware Display
Thank you for visiting my Collecting Black and White Enamelware page!
🙂 Bonnie