Mismatched lids – Royal Lace edition

   
Here is a listing that is labeled as a pink royal lace cookie jar. What is actually shown is a royal lace bottom with the top from a ribbed panel jar like this one:

  
These cookie jars in three patterns that I’ve seen one with a horizontal concentric circle pattern with no ribs, one is the ribbed cookie jar you see above, and one is a vertical ribbed cookie jar like the one below:

These cookie jars are sometimes called Manhattan although they were not part of the Manhattan line. There also called Manhattan go-withs. But I will address these cookie-jars specifically in another post.

Here is another pink royal lace cookie jar bottom with a mis-matched lid:

  
 
Both pieces look authentic. But based on the price this would be a terrible deal. If it were an intact royal lace pink cookie jar it might be worth what the seller is listing it for.

Note: I am not in anyway accusing any seller of fraud. These are only my opinion on the authenticity and value of their listings.

Beware Mayfair Reproductions!

 I recently noticed a glut of reproduction pink Mayfair cookies on EBay masquerading as the real thing. So I am going to give some examples. 

Real or Repro has a great article on this
This is an example of a lid that I know is a reproduction. I can tell immediately by the scrolling in the border.  
The authentic border looks like this:

  
Here is another example of a post I would beware of: 

   
   
In this example you can see in the close-up that it too has a pronounced wavy scroll, instead of a flat one. 

The knob also looks to be the hexagon shape that most reproductions have. The authentic jars have an octagon shape with 4 long edges and four shorter flat corners, which makes it much squarer than the hexagon on the repros that looks more round.  Here is an authentic knob:

  
As a side note, the design on the authentic lids is delicate and well formed. Some reproductions have less well formed designs. In person the well formed designs feel rougher while the poorly formed ones feel smoother, without edges.

I would not buy this jar. And then there is the other huge red flag: there is no picture of the bottom of the jar. A real jar would have an obvious mold mark ( a circle on the bottom pressed on the glass) like this one has:

  
But this post has a big problem, the bottom might be real but the lid is a reproduction! It is common to break the lids so some sellers slap a reproduction lid on an old bottom and sell the whole thing as authentic.

  
This example is irksome to me especially because of the price. I feel as though it’s a scam. So if you want an authentic pink Mayfair watch out for all the fakes on eBay!

I see you deer!

   

Dear are a major problem in my garden. They have entirely destroyed my hostas, oak leaf hydrangea, and butternut squash. They also defoliate do  bunch of my raspberries (they eat around the thorns). I hate coming out to a previously lush garden and finding bare stems!
   

A more effective fence is on my to do list. I’ve read that 8 feet is effective but I don’t that’s feasible for us. I will update if I succeed at keeping them out.

Painting the inside of our cabinets

   
Before I started we had basic cabinets, wood inside, with a very old adhesive liner

   
I painted the inside of our cabinets and re-lined them with an adhesive cork liner.  I think that this was worth the time. The light background creates the illusion of well-lit cabinets without adding any lighting and replacing the liner took our cabinets out of the 80’s.

 

Caprese Salad

   
The caprese salad is one of my all-time favorite things. It’s super simple, but there is a secret ingredient. 

 
First layer tomato, basil, mozzerella, etc.

Then drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

Then for the secret ingredient:

 

Balsamic glaze! This is super convenient and takes the salad from good to great! You can also use it for other other things. My favorite part it drizzling the glaze because the bottle lets you make fun designs!