Were it not for garage sales, I would have never started collecting majolica.  About 90% of my collection was pulled from garages, and, therefore, was very affordable.  I prefer English or American majolica, but do have a few French pieces, which are always figural and fun, and a few German pieces, although the Germans were never able to "do majolica right."  Their forte is porcelain, and majolica is a tin-glazed earthenware which the English companies of Minton and George Jones perfected.            

What's nice about majolica is that it looks great displayed  individually, or you can stack them and cram them into any available space.  There's no way you can make these pieces look bad!

A large part of my collection is housed in this cupboard.   I was lucky to buy at least a dozen pieces from a 90-year-old lady about 20 years ago.  She loved opening up her garage to sell things she had collected over the years . . .

 

This English Fielding cobalt cockatoo teapot was one of her favorites she sold to me.   On justifying her price she said, "I have to at least get back what I paid for it at an antiques show, so the price is $35.00!"  And the Fielding Fan and Scroll teapot (top of post) was priced at $35.00 as well.

I loved this water lily cake stand so much, I bought it even though it wasn't at garage sale prices.

 

And this fabulous sunflower teapot broke the bank, but I'll never regret buying it.  Prices for majolica have skyrocketed over the years, so I look at it as an investment . . . although a breakable one!