During my days of hunting goodies at the mesmerizing Butterfield Estate Sales, I was thrilled to locate a set of vintage Pimpernel coasters decorated with old San Francisco scenes, including cable cars on Hyde Street and the original Gump's store.

Old coasters with evocative scenes and motifs can add a lot of charm to a coffee table while protecting the surface from mugs of hot coffee (hate those nasty rings) and goblets of red wine (which I stopped serving in the living room since the last fiasco when the Philips kid was over).

Where can you pluck these beverage-propping treasures? At Go Antiques I found an endearing set of Christmas tree Pimpernel coasters from the 70s for $12.99. The windmill above is cute, too. Can't you just imagine putting these out with your eggnog at a festive holiday fete?

If you're a fan of turned marble designs, a large variety of sets with everything from old Bingo cards to heirloom paisley and gumball themes can be harvested for around $35 at the Giraffe Etsy store.

A recycled line from Robot Candy will charm your pants off with precious characters from vintage story books. Made from ceramic tile, they're as fetching as the real deals and cost around $6 each.

I'm not a huge fan of lace and knit mats and coasters, but if you go in for the Shabby Chic allure or have friends to tea you will adore coasters tatted from antique bobbin lace, $24 at Tias. I'm also enamored with the letterpress varieties at Buy Olympia that are pretty enough to hang on the wall. They're also waterproof which distinguishes them from the throw-away paper coasters used at most cafes.

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