(pronunciation: as spelled)
The Haviland Company produces, or has produced, hundreds of china dinnerware patterns. Many of the designs have gold edges, and many of the serving or decorator items are profusely decorated with gold accents. Dinnerware sets include all the standard dinnerware pieces, as well as items like bone plates and oyster plates. Frequently these less used items are the ones found on the secondary market, as they are subject to less breakage.
Theodore Haviland China © by Elaine with Grey Cats
Many dinnerware patterns are named after flowers that do not occur in the design, and there are patterns named for the women’s colleges of the East Coast. Some patterns are repeated in different colors, or can be found with or without a gold rim. The Haviland pitchers, creamers and chocolate pots have especially beautiful shapes. The company will make a hand-painted dinnerware set to the customer’s design, like a family crest.
Theodore Haviland China: Sugar bowl © by Elaine with Grey Cats
The company also produces nicely shaped china blanks for the china painters of the world.
Click to see some actual Haviland porcelain.
My opinion: Beautiful porcelain, but it would require considerable falling in live for me to go with any of the china patterns for more than a piece or two.
Product lines:
Dinnerware, both company designs and bespoke designs.
Cabinet plates, for standing at the back of shelves to show off the more complicated motifs.
Children’s set: Babar the Elephant.
Mother’s Day plates.
Christmas plates and ornaments.
China receptacles for vanity and bathroom.
China chess set.
Blanks for china painters, both commercial and amateur.
Prices:
Can be quite reasonable on the secondary market, although these are usually the less often used pieces like oyster plates and bone plates.
Collector’s Society:None. But this site, http://www.havilandchina.net/, has patterns books, etc.
The official company site is: There does not appear to be one at this time (September 2011).
History
The Haviland Company is a family run concern established in the mid-Nineteenth Century by a New York porcelain dealer. David Haviland went to the Limoges area of France to build his factory to take advantage of the kaolin deposits and pool of experienced china workers in the area. The family has introduced new manufacturing techniques over the years to keep the Haviland Company up to date. The company is now in the hands of the fourth generation of Havilands.
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Read more about porcelain collectibles in the Porcelain Collectibles Guide.