Christmas China

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There are many types of holiday china that can be used to augment the various end-of-the year celebrations you might hold. These include whole china sets, various assorted mugs, and kitchen decorations like cookie jars and canisters.

One form of Christmas ephemera is the many teapots and mugs available to decorate and use for the holiday season. Although you sometimes have to buy matching mugs, in sets of four usually, most often these holiday extras come as individual purchases. There are also holiday teapots either to match or complement the seasonal mugs, So you can accumulate a wide assortment of mugs to use year after year. Serving wassail or spiced cider drinks to holiday visitors or at parties you host can add a very festive touch to these occasions.

There are many Christmas china patterns, that can be purchased by the place setting or by the complete set, depending on how much you want to spend and whether you want all the place settings to be the same. Traditionally, the table is set with every place the same, but imagine a table where each place is set with different china and drink ware. Some places with predominantly green or red china, or others with gold and silver patterns. This would be a fun table to set, and to collect the components as you find them. It may take some time to find enough for everyone, but as you add settings, no doubt some of the people at your table will develop a preference for a particular setting and it will become “their” place.

For decorating the kitchen for the season’s festivities, there are special ceramic cookie jars, canisters, salt and pepper shakers, spoon rests and other items. These can be fancy like the products of Fitz & Floyd or as simple as the offerings at the local dollar store or warehouse store. These special holiday decorations can be unpacked and enjoyed for many years, and even become family heirlooms to be passed on to the next generation. Look for kitchen ornamental wares as you shop the before and after Christmas sales and pick up a few for next year.

We celebrate the end of the year in many fashions, and there is holiday china for each of the major celebrations. Offer visitors the special food and drink of your holiday traditions in or on china specially made for the season. Happy Holidays!

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Annual Porcelain Ornaments for 2011

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Many china and porcelain manufacturers offer Christmas ornaments for sale, and many of these are dated with the year they are issued. Often these dated ornaments are part of series, with one offered every year, allowing the purchaser to spend a reasonable amount of money in any given year, but to accumulate a nice collection of porcelain ornaments over time.

Another focus of dated ornaments are the commemoration of significant events in the ornaments owners’ lives. Weddings, first homes and new babies are popular events for which special ornaments are made. Usually purchased as gifts, they can be the beginning of ornament collections that the recipient then begins adding to each year.

Here are some of the porcelain ornaments available for 2011.

Wedgwood

Wedgwood is offering a Wedgwood blue and white snowflake, a house ornament, Baby’s First Christmas inn the form of a small carousel, available in pink or blue, a blue jasper ornament and a couple’s first Christmas in the form of a wedding cake. Without a year identified on the ornament: an iconic teapot, a cup and saucer ornament, a white luster Snowflake ornament, ball shaped ornaments with a Sleigh Ride, the Nativity, Santa in Flight, and Skating Pond, a white Snowflake ball ornament, and flat cameo ornaments with Santa (red background), Tree (dark green background), Snowman (dark gray background) and Madonna and Child (light blue background).

Lladro

Lladro has a dated bell and a ball ornament for 2011.

Goeble

Goeble, maker of the Hummels, has a Hummel bell, a Hummel figurine ornament as well as an angel bell and a regular bell ornament for 2011.

Precious Moments

Precious Moments has a Santa ornament, a penguin ornament, Baby’s First Christmas with either girl or boy, an angel, a ball and/or figurine ornament with the same figure, and a couple’s first Christmas ornament specifically for 2011.

Danbury Mint

Danbury Mint has an interesting Celtic Heart ornament for 2011, and a German ornament in the form of a building decorated in blue on white with red and green accents.

Spode

Spode has a couple’s first Christmas ornament, a Baby’s First Christmas, and a new home ornament. Their regular in-a-series ornaments are a bell, a reindeer and a spoon ornament.

Belleek

Belleek has a Baby’s First Christmas in the form of a Teddy Bear, and a couple’s first Christmas ornament.

Royal Dalton

Royal Dalton has used their Royal Albert Old Country Roses on their 2011 bauble ornament. There is also an Old Country Roses Figural of a train engine.

Royal Copenhagen

Royal Copenhagen’s additions for the 2011 dated ornaments consist of a cat figure, and a drop ornament decorated in their signature blue on blue style.

Bing & Grondahl

B&G also have a drop ornament, decorated in blue on blue as well.

Lenox

Lenox is one of the major players, if not the major player, in the dated porcelain ornament world. They have a number of continuing ornament series as well as commemorative ornaments.

The commemorative ornaments include: Baby’s First Christmas in the form of a flat baby buggy, a 3-D rattle ornament, a 3-D Winnie the Pooh ornament and a flat rocking horse ornament. For the bride & groom, there is a bride’s cake ornament, a flat wedding bells ornament, and a first home ornament in the shape of a house.

In their continuing series of ornaments, there are also flat and 3-D ornaments. In the 3-D selection, there are the spire ornament, the pierced ornament, a Christmas tree, a bell, a Jewels bell, a ball ornament, an angel, two Santa Claus figures, Tinkerbell, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, a nutcracker, and, finally, a moose.

The flat ornaments include a snowflake, a gingerbread man, a snowman, a gift package, and a ribbon-form wreath. Lenox easily takes the prize as the top dated Christmas ornament manufacturer.

Dated ornaments can make wonderful Christmas presents for those who already have plenty of sweaters and ties. They are special not only in the year they are given, but in the years following, as they are unwrapped and put out each holiday season. If you are looking for a gift for someone who has everything, consider a dated Christmas ornament.

See some of these 2011 ornaments.

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Stoneware

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Stoneware is defined by the fact that the clay body itself vitrifies enough for the unglazed vessel to be water-tight and very durable. These wares are often glazed for aesthetic reasons, but the simplest are formed and fired just once and are useful at that point. Crocks for preserving foods and jugs for storing drinks, as well as a plethora of other useful items, are formed from these kinds of clays, which can be found in many parts of the world. All pottery that self-glazes is considered stoneware, the opposite of which is earthenware, which must be fired twice, the second using a high-fire glaze, to be water-tight.

Originally thrown on the wheel, stoneware can also be hand formed, press molded, drape molded and slip cast. Because of the uninspiring looks of most of these clays when fired, exterior decoration and or the use of glazes was common to make the vessels more eye-catching or to identify the contents of the container.

Industry Standard Categories for Stoneware

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneware)
Traditional stoneware – a dense and inexpensive body. It is opaque, can be of any colour and breaks with a conchoidal or stony fracture. Traditionally made of fine-grained secondary, plastic clays which can used to shape very large pieces.
Fine stoneware – made from more carefully selected, prepared and blended raw materials. It is used to produce tableware and art ware.
Chemical stoneware – used in the chemical industry, and elsewhere when resistance to chemical attack is needed. Purer raw materials are used than for other stoneware bodies.
Thermal shock resistant stoneware – has additions of certain materials to enhance the thermal shock resistance of the fired body.
Electrical stoneware – historically has been used for electrical insulators, although has been replaced by electrical porcelain.
(end of Wikipedia quote)

Finishing Techniques

Albany slip, a clay suspended in water: the formed items is dipped into the slip and fired. The result is a smooth, opaque brown surface. Sometimes only used on the inside of the piece while the outside was finished using another technique.
salt glaze: salt is added to the kiln at a high temperature. The sodium reacts with the clay body to form a glassy finish.
alkaline glaze: a drippy olive of brown finish, smooth and uniform, used in the southeast US.
Bristol glaze: a glaze which gives the vessel a white opaque finish, it often used as the base for spongeware, or combined with Albany slip to produce brown and white ware.

Decorating Techniques

sponging: using a contrasting glaze lights applied using natural sponges to get a spotty/mottled effect and a orange peel texture.
incising: lines or other figures are scratched into the vessel once it is formed and air dried. Sometimes having minerals rubbed into the lines to make them stand out more vividly.
impression: a coggle wheel is used to impress lines of squiggles or other shapes around the vessel
application: hand-formed or press molded decorations are applied to the vessel while still damp using slip. These can be anything from a mask or face to Classical scenes or wreaths of ivy leaves or grapes.
stencil: a stencil is used to make areas open for the design. A colored glaze is sponged over the openings in the stencil. Several stencil may be used with different colors to provide more complicated designs. Also used for applying the maker’s names, volume indicators (qt. or pt. for example) or intended contents.
slip: slip of a contrasting color, or even the same color, is spotted or trailed on the outside surface, giving it visual interest.
decals and copper prints: on fine stoneware, simple or complicated designs can be applied to the stoneware using decals or copper transfer prints. Dinnerware that is not hand-painted is usually decorated in this way.

Items made from Stoneware

storage for food and drink: jugs, pots, jars, crock, water coolers, bottles, flasks, canteens.
vessels for serving or consuming food and drink: mugs, pitchers, punch bowls, sugar bowls, salts, bowls, goblets, glasses.
cooking utensils: bean pots, churns, mortars.
household containers: face jugs, inkwells, spittoons, chamber pots, hot water bottles. flower pots, urns, banks, tobacco humidors.
Non-containers: doorstops, figurines, miniatures, toys, whistles.

Stoneware covers a lot of ground, and you may already own more of it than you think. Even leaving out dinnerware, don’t you have a crock, or bean pot somewhere? Perhaps as a family heirloom? And, given the list above, isn’t there something on the list that piques your interest? For me, I would like to see stoneware figurines and miniatures, and if I see very many, I bet I own a few soon thereafter.

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American Limoges

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(pronunciation: lim-oje)

Although it was not always known as the American Limoges Company, being names the Limoges China Company from 1900 to 1949, the maker’s marks shown for this company includes USA when the term “American” is not included. Thus, it should be easy to tell this company’s products from those from the Limoges area of France, which frequently have only the word “Limoges” in their maker’s mark.

The company lasted long enough to reach the modern design era, so some of the china forms and decorations are in the modern style. There are also older, more traditional designs such as the European china companies have produced.

My opinion: This company did produce some interesting modern designs. A piece here and there should be sufficient.

Product lines:
Replacements, Ltd has almost 500 patterns in their list of American Limoges. Even if color variations are listed separately, and the numbered portion of the list duplicates the names portion, that is still quite a collection of patterns.

No silver or crystal listings are provided, so this company apparently did not survive to the years of diversification.

Prices:
reasonable for china, dinner plates about $24 for true porcelain, less for china, salad plate around $10.

Collector’s Society: None.

The official company site is: None.

History

Established in 1900, the Limoges China Company was renamed the American Limoges Company in 1949, due to a dispute with the Limoges China Company in France. The company produced European porcelain dinnerware, tea sets, chocolate sets, and fruit, salad and soup sets for the American market. Output included semi-vitreous china as well as true porcelain.

American Limoges developed the tunnel kiln, which fired the more china in an easier to load and unload structure, replacing the beehive kiln used since before written history. That revolutionized the production of china in the US and around the world, where it was adapted. American Limoges also used decal decoration heavily, reducing the necessity for hand-painted decorations, and painters, on its many china patterns.

Production ceased in 1955.

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Read more about porcelain collectibles in the Porcelain Collectibles Guide.

China Knife Rests

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One small item of china or porcelain that makes a nice collection and display is the knife rest. These small bars of china keep the knife, preserved by the diner from one course to the next, from lying on a table cloth or the table and leaving remains of the meal there. Today, they are pretty much in the same class as place cards, but they were once part of any table setting, along with open salt cellars and napkin rings. Now they are the epitome of grand dining, except for where the place setting is so grand that there is a different knife for each course, as needed.

Antique Knife Rests

Porcelain and china knife rests are an easy collection to start. Ask in most antique stores and there will be one or two you can look at. China knife rests in the popular china patterns of the past are easily found, like the Blue Onion pattern. Sometimes an entire set in the original packaging is available. You can find knife rests at estate sales as well.

New Knife Rests

New china knife rests are less easily found. They are sold in sets of six or eight, and may be as plain or as fancy as any china table accessory. Knife rests today are also made from several metals, including sterling and silver plate, as well as pewter, and they are made from other materials as well.

Use of Knife Rests

Knife rests are and were used where the table setting of flatware has only one knife for the entire meal. As food course follows course, the knife is placed on the rest when the previous plate is leaving the table and the next course is coming out of the kitchen. Whether the meal is served on a bare table top, place mats or linen tablecloth, no householder wants the remains of any course on the table when the meal is complete. Hence, the knife rest.

Older versions of the knife rest may be combined with a napkin ring or an open salt dip, but most are single function items. Many are long enough, or have two flat places, so the fork can be saved for the next course as well as the knife. Carving sets also frequently have knife rests, which can also have a place to rest the carving fork when not in use.

Chopstick Rests

Chopstick rests are a version of the knife rest from a different eating utensil tradition, showing that the concern for reusing the eating utensils while not making a mess on the table is relatively universal. Chopstick rests have the same advantages as knife rests as a collectible, but the sets will come in odd numbers, usually five, as odd numbers are luckier in the East. Most chopstick rests are made from china or porcelain.

Chopstick rests are frequently in the form of animals or food items, and are rarely larger than a couple of inches. Knife rests are generally from two to four inches long. Both versions of this utilitarian items rest securely on the table, as there is no point in having a knife rest that wobbles and dumps the eating apparatus onto the tablecloth after all the effort of making and having a rest to prevent that very thing.

See knife rests.

Learn More

Many antique and collectibles books may have a section on knife rests, or list knife rests among other glass and porcelain table items, but for pictures of many knife rests, see Knife Rests by Virginia L. Neas, Glassy Mountain Press, Pickens, South Carolina, 1987.

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Stangl Pottery

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(pronunciation: same as strangle, but without the R sound)

Stangl produced nearly one hundred hand-painted pottery dinnerware patterns over the years 1930 to 1972. In addition, the company produced over one hundred bird figurines based on the Audubon bird prints. Gold washed decorative pieces were produced in the late 1950′s. Except for some dinnerware, all Stangl products are marked.

See Stangl Pottery.

My opinion: The bird figurines are not good, but the bird ashtrays are attractive. There are some nice ashtrays decorated with fish (my favorite). A few favorites may be added to your general collection, but for the most part the products of this company can be passed over.

Product lines:
Stangl Birds, based on Audubon: not impressive. very pricey
dinnerware: red body, shows on bottom or interior
dinnerware: white body
dinnerware: some nice floral patterns, some nice bird pieces
art pottery vases and planters
wig stand: cute plus useful
gold washed vases and decorative pieces, not pretty
children’s dinnerware

Prices:
The birds are pricey.
Individual pieces of the dinnerware can be acquired fairly reasonably.

Collector’s Society: None.

The official company site is: None.

History
Martin Stangl purchased the Fulper Pottery in Flemington, New Jersey, in 1930. Dinnerware and household items on both a terra cotta and white clay body were produced. Sgrafitto techniques were used to show the red clay body through the bright colors of the painted decoration. Almost one hundred dinnerware patterns were produced over the forty-eight years the pottery was in production, as well as the birds and innumerable decorative wares.

Go to the Table of Contents to see all the topics covered so far.

Read more about porcelain collectibles in the Porcelain Collectibles Guide.