Every Thursday I pick one of my personal treasures, i.e. things that are very close to my heart, and tell you a little bit about them.

This week I would like to show you a another secondhand shop find. When I was a student, I had a small room in Bern which I tried to furnish on a very tight budget with things from home and cheap finds at the secondhand shop. I was very lucky as one of the nicer shops was around the corner from where I lived. One day I found this little beauty in a corner:

I fell in love with the colours but felt that it was too expensive at £4. After all I didn’t need it and for just a couple more pounds I could get a bedside table which I was in need of. I’m sure you can guess what happened, right? Yes, I left the bedside table and went home with my little enamel plate. It’s in constant use and has been since the day I bought it. It’s the perfect size at about 4.5″ for a couple of biscuits or a small slice of cake and holds my tea bag whenever I make a cup of herbal tea.

It’s signed on the back but I can’t read the signature.

I just love the colours and wish I could make a quilt that looked like that.

By the way, I went back for the bedside table the following month and bought it. It was a yucky dark brown colour and I quickly turned it into a lovely orange little number. It has since changed colour a few times and has been painted blue, green, white and pink. Little Miss Bossy-Boots and I painted it pink last summer and it now resides in her room. It was well worth the £6 I paid for it.