Last weekend I popped into a local charity shop to make a donation and on my way out a tea pot caught my eye. It was marked Arabia, made in Finland and priced at £3.50. It was in perfect condition, but the queue was long and I was in a hurry so left it behind. I didn't know anything about the maker just that I loved the look of the Scandinavian design. Today I travelled past the same shop and decided to stop by. I didn't think for one minute that the tea pot would still be there but needed to check. Well... to my surprise it was and here it is...
Once home, I researched a little and found out that it is designed by Ulla Procope in 1953 for Arabia Finland. Arabia is a Finnish ceramics company, founded in 1873, and currently owned by Fiskars. It specialises in kitchenware and tableware.
Above is an image of the original Arabia porcelain factory located in Toukola (Helskini.) It continues to be one of Fiskars Corporation's production centres.
A little more searching led me to find this version in black which sold most recently on Ebay on the 6th January 2013 for £73.45! See here. I just about fell off my chair.
Well as much as I love this tea pot I had no idea that it was quite such a valuable piece. I've decided to put it up on Ebay and see what kind of response this little pot above gets. Perhaps someone else will love it just as much as me!
...I really have always loved tea.
