The Collector: Nashyra Tuininga likes thrifting the sun and the moon

In 2001, Nashyra Tuininga spotted three salad plates bundled together at the old St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on Trent Avenue.

The plates featured a dark blue band on the edges spattered with golden stars. A crescent man in the moon overlapping the face of a bright yellow sun covered the rest of the small plates.

“I thought they were beautiful,” she said. “I already had a moon and star collection – wall art and knick-knacks.”

She bought the plates. Then she started noticing similar dishes at thrift shops, so she began adding to her collection. A bowl here. A mug there. Once, she found a stack of eight dinner plates and scooped them up.

“It’s fun!” Tuininga said. “An adventure, a joy and celebration when I find a new piece, which is becoming very rare these days.”

Her rule is that the dishes must come her way either by “thrift or gift.”

“I haven’t bought anything online.”

The stoneware dishes have two primary manufacturers – Vitromaster and Oneida. Both makers named the pattern Galaxy, but there are subtle differences. The Oneida plates have vertical breaks on the blue borders, and their mugs feature a thinner patterned wrap.

By contrast, the pattern on the Vitromaster mugs encompasses the entire cup, and the handles are the man in the moon.

Her most recent addition, a mug gifted to her by friends in 2021, revealed a third brand – TableTrendz. This company dubbed the pattern Lumina.

One of her original salad plates is also unique. There’s no maker’s mark on the bottom. Its shape is different than Vitromaster or Oneida, and you can see a bit of a smile on the sun’s face.

“I think it’s handmade,” Tuininga said.

She learned more about her collection in 2019 after posting a photo of the last pieces she purchased in an online group.

“I found a serving bowl and two serving plates at Value Village,” she said.

Her post drew many responses, which gave her a bit of the history of the dishes.

“In the early to mid-’90s, apparently a lot of people got Vitromaster sets as wedding gifts.”

Tuininga’s collection numbers 43 pieces, but she once had more – many more.

“I threw weekly dinner parties from May to September for five or six years,” she said. “These were the dishes I used.”

She stopped using them in 2015 because of breakage.

“I’m sure I’ve broken more dishes than I currently have.”

For example, her demitasse cups.

“We used them for shot glasses,” she said. “That’s why I only have four left!”

Despite the dinnerware casualties, Tuininga has fond memories of those weekly dinners.

“It was mostly worth it, but I wish I had some of those pieces back.”

It’s been several years since she spotted any Galaxy-patterned dishes at thrift stores.

“I don’t think they’re making them anymore,” she said. “I’ve never seen them in a box or on a sales floor.”

Of course, she has seen them online and was floored to see the $17 price tag for one dinner plate.

A gravy boat and a cream and sugar set caught her eye, but she’s sticking to her “thrift or gift” rule. To buy something online disrupts her narrative.

“It took so long to build the collection,” she said. “I love the story of it.”

But her favorite thing is displaying them in a built-in cabinet in her north Spokane home.

“Until we moved to this house in 2019, I didn’t have a place to display them,” Tuininga said.

The celestial dishes are also a nod to her unusual name.

“Nashyra supposedly means the brightest star in the Capricorn constellation,” she said.

Tuininga cradled a mug and smiled.

“If you pick it up and it makes you happy, you should keep it.”