Over the years, a visit to my brother's home would expose me to his wife Angie's love for antique glass. It's not hard to find homes with fine China or special pieces passed along through generations, but Angie's true passion is more than just glass or a piece or two of it. It happens to be antique porcelain tea strainers.

"I knew I wanted to build a collection, really, before I even started collecting tea strainers", says Angie Neel. "My former Mother-in-Law had a collection of antique salt shakers, and I always admired that collection and knew then, I wanted to collect antique glassware. When I saw that beautiful tea strainer in The Delaplane Store, I had never seen one before. I was fascinated with it, and I purchased it." That was 1999 and today, at nearly 500 pieces, the collection is thought to be one of the largest anywhere.

With names known for elegant glassware, such as Nippon and Noritake of Japan, Royal Bayreuth, Dresden and Rosenthal of Germany, Bing & Grondahl of Denmark and Royal Winton of England, porcelain tea strainers are things of beauty. With their golden era being from the late 1800's to about the 1930's, tea strainers, especially during this period were very ornate, hand painted porcelain, yet still fairly functional.

Utilizing two parts, the strainer portion with its sunken center to hold loose tea, would rest on the tea cup for water to be poured through, while the other part, the drip bowl, would then be used as a place to rest the strainer after use. Further, the strainer portion, mostly circular like the cup, has what might best be described as a thumb handle to lift it with.

As you look down on it, you see artistry ranging from embellished floral designs to miniature landscapes and such. The drip bowl is matching in design and continuity. It often takes a trained collector's eye to determine that over the years, with one part or the other being broken, that the surviving part may have been mated to something close, but not truly a correct set.

While Angie certainly enjoys a cup of tea, the tea strainers are much more about her love of fine glass, enjoyment of collecting and the thrill of the hunt. "Tea strainers come in so many forms – many of which are hand-painted by factory artists or by individual artists, and some that are decorated with transfer florals," she explains.

Some pieces have come and gone, ever fine tuning her collection into the best examples she can acquire. Her search extends beyond the United States, to all over the world. True collecting takes patience. In this case, it's not about the quantity, though her collection could only be described as vast, but rather the quality of her overall collection, which is impressive.

As to hold a prize, Angie shares with me, "The most expensive I own is the Royal Bayreuth Yellow Lustre Pansy. Royal Bayreuth is a German porcelain company, founded in 1794. All Royal Bayreuth figural tea strainers are considered to be "rare", and this yellow luster pansy is the only one I have ever seen."

A bit of tea history; Said to be the most popular beverage in the world, tea began under the Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung back around 2730's B.C. Back then tea was simply shredded. It would seem this was the way for a long time. In England, silver "Mote Skimmers" or strainer tea spoons came along in the late 1600's. Basically their long handle, would get the trapped tea out of the neck of a tea pot and the other end had a flat strainer to skim off the loose leaves after the tea had been poured.

This process was used for about 100 years until the late 1700's when the actual "tea strainer" came into use and for "loose tea", they are still used today in one fashion or another. Most tea strainers found today are often made from screen and are almost all about function, but newly made porcelain tea strainers are still available.

Tea strainers would start to become obsolete in 1904 when Thomas Sullivan, a tea and coffee shop merchant of New York, invented a hand-sewn silk "tea bag" to market and ship his tea around the world.

Today, tea is just as popular as ever, both in bag and loose form, with so many varieties to choose from. Tea rooms can be found locally and most offer loose teas, many of which are hand mixed and in need of a tea strainer!

Angie Neel will be giving a presentation and exhibiting many examples of her tea strainer collection for "A Celebration of Tea" being hosted by Live An Artful Life in The Plains, VA. For more information visit www.LiveAnArtfulLife online or call 540-253-9797.