Thursday, January 27, 2011

Buying the Queen

Well, she is mine - after a long Facebook thread of argument back and forth over the wisdom or unwisdom of the purchase, I bought this porcelain collectible doll of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the Salvation Army ($10) and she is mine, hair net, invisible corgis, and all!  Is she not a truly amazing artifact?


Look at those blue, blue eyes!


And how effortlessly, and graciously she presides over my home. A good many people have made the "does she have a glass of gin in her hand?" joke, and I regret to say that she does not.  Perhaps she had a little bit too much of a tipple, and that is why she has lost her hat.


As it happens, I saw The King's Speech last night, and was not expecting to be delighted, as I have heard nothing of the movie but good, which automatically makes me suspicious and gets my contrarian back up.  But it was wonderful, and Colin Firth's acting is beyond all praise.  Actually, one of the few weak points in this very fine film, I think, was the performance of Helena Bonham-Carter playing Queen Elizabeth.  She was made to look the part very well, but it was a wasted opportunity - there would seem to be so much you could make of the Queen Mother (before she was Q.M., of course), either straight or satirically; but she just twitched and moue'd and didn't do much.  Of course, the problem may have been playing alongside Firth doing the performance of his career, which might overpower anyone; but then Geoffrey Rush held his own extremely well.  In any event, here is Helena in the role:


And here is the real Queen, at age 100, dressed very much like my doll!



And now the Queen will hold a review of all my latest Salvation Army acquisitions.

A pretty cobalt-and-gold Limoges plate ($5)


A hand-painted, spade-shaped cobalt blue glass dish - provenance unknown.

More cobalt and gold - this is a little Bohemian glass candy dish ($12)

The three cobalt-and-gold "precious treasures," gathered together

The Queen benevolently indicates her approval of the collection.

Sadly, I must close this post far sooner than I wanted to, because I am now reliably informed that I have used up my 1 MB of Blogspot Photo Storage.  As I've written 75 posts since starting my "Light, Bright, and Sparkling" blog two and a half years ago, and I use a lot of pictures, I suppose it's not surprising.  I have signed up for more space, but it will take a day or two to process, and in the meantime all I can do is say "Adieu" with a regal little wave.

I think I have photo space left enough for just one Salvation Cat picture.  Here's me in a Brooks Brothers cotton striped top ($8) and purple felt hat ($10), holding the struggling Marshy.






8 comments:

lyn said...

Amazing, Diana! If you dressed her in pink, she could be Barbara Cartland. I agree with you about the King's Speech, just wonderful.

Barbara said...

Thank you, Diana. Another lovely blog post. From the front the doll didn't look particularly like the Queen Mum but from the side view - definitely! What's with the hair net? I don't get it. Loved the film, too! Barbara

Diana Birchall said...

Ah, I recognized her at once, Barbara. Yes, she was "younged down" and prettied up, but it was unmistakeably She. The Q.M. was famous for wearing hair nets over her thinning hair, but in this case it's an unfair calumny. Clearly the doll once had a big garden party hat, now lost, and the hair net just kept her hair tidy beneath it.

harriet said...

Great! and I love your pretty blue dishes. Good for the salvation army!

Dorothy said...

She is lovely, but what a pity she has lost her hat! Your Salvation Army store is surely a wonderful place! And thanks for posting your opinion on "The King's Speech." I have heard nothing but good of it and we plan to go right after payday! :-)

Anonymous said...

Makes me want to run down to the nearest Salvation Army or Good Will shop to see if I can find any treasures...

Roz Cawley said...

Could not agree more about HBC in the King's Speech. I could not exactly pick fault with her - it's just that I find HBC is always HBC in whichever film she appears, rather than a distinctly defined character. Also, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother had really a rather common accent - HBC is far too plummy! :-)).
I LOVE all your photographs of your acquisitions - even moreso because they are blue - but i definitely think you need another visit to the Antiques Arcade in Hungerford, to top up your collection!! :-)

Unknown said...

I got this doll today from a thrift store she's soo cute