Dinnerware Diary

YouTube Free Tour of Replacements, Ltd.

Replacements, Ltd. stocks Homer Laughlin Fiesta Ware

In 2003 publisher Rand McNally named Replacements, Ltd., Greensboro, NC, one of the “Top 25 Free Attractions in America,” citing the company’s free tours of its museum, showroom, and warehouse. Year round, 7 days a week (except holidays), Replacements, Ltd. free tours are available every half hour, from 9:00am to 6:30pm. Individuals and bus tours drive from near and far to see our amazing collection of china, crystal, silver, and collectibles.

Now at YouTube you can take a free tour of our facilities right on your home or office computer! Just click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbHfqW45m6E

When the YouTube screen appears, click the “Watch in High Quality” link to the bottom right of the video. Then sit back, relax, and enjoy the tour! Since there are no credits, Pinot the Blog Dog wanted me to tell you that some of her best buddies make guest pet appearances in the tour. There's "Charmin," who'll meet you at the front desk if you come to our business entrance at Replacements, Ltd. There's big "Mercury," who used to work in the phone sales center - he's since moved to Florida. There's "Cocoa," who works in curating, and sleepy little "Romeo," who works in buying services. Pinot the Blog Dog says our pet-friendly policy makes Replacements, Ltd. a great place to work and visit, and everyone agrees!

Founder and owner Bob Page checks inventory in Collectibles

In the YouTube tour our founder and CEO, Bob Page, describes how he started the business 27 years ago, working from his house in Greensboro, NC, writing down customer requests on 3 x 5 index cards, and packing up UPS shipments on the floor of his kitchen.

Our Replacements, Ltd. facilities today comprise 415,000 square feet, the size of 7 football fields, and we employ more than 500 individuals! Our warehouses contain more than 13,000,000 pieces of inventory in more than 300,000 different patterns!

Replacements, Ltd. in April 2008 was mentioned by another publisher, Frommer's, that also notes our free tours. “Walking into Replacements, Ltd. is like going to Disneyland for dishes,” writes internationally recognized author Suzy Gershman in her recent book, Where to Buy the Best of Everything, published by Frommer’s, a division of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Her book includes information about more than 1,000 stores and brands, with chapters devoted to women's clothing, women's shoes and accessories, menswear, kids, beauty, homestyle, food, lifestyle, and more.

At Replacements, Ltd. “there’s an official tour every half hour, there’s a lounge, there’s restrooms, there’s free information to take away,” Gershman writes in her glowing assessment of our facilities. “There’s even a stack of pens and fridge magnets,” she writes.  “The help is enormously friendly and knowledgeable. In the rear, in back of the showroom and before the warehouse, there’s a small clearance corner. It is a heart stopping destination.”

“All of us shoppers know about Replacements, the famous china dealer,” Gershman writes, and she is a lady who knows something about shopping. Her Born to Shop books, a Frommer’s series that is more than 20 years old, has been translated into 6 foreign languages, and has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. Gershman also writes for the noted magazines Travel & Leisure, Travel Holiday, and Conde Nast France. Gershman, with her two daschunds, “Toffee” and “Mango,” divides her time between California and Provence when she is not traveling for her work.

Frommer’s, which now publishes more than 300 guidebooks, burst upon the travel scene in 1957 with the publication of Arthur Frommer’s innovative Europe on $5 a Day, probably carried in more backpacks by more college students than any travel guide in history.  Frommer’s is one of the most trusted names in travel books today. The company is a division of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., a billion-dollar publishing corporation that has been in business since 1807.

So be sure to have a look at the YouTube video, and see what all the excitement's about! And of course, you are more than welcome to come to Replacements, Ltd. for a visit. The video is great, but there's nothing to compare with actually seeing our beautiful Showroom and Museum and the vast expanse of our warehouse and stacks! We look forward to seeing you! Click here for driving directions. And don't forget to browse our web site. Pinot and I will soon be back with more information on dinnerware and collectibles. In the meantime, send us an e-mail at ross.howell@replacements.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

"Great Wall of China" showcase includes Noritake Azalea

Grosvenor China "Merlin" Dinnerware

Pinot the Blog Dog was very proud of the wizard's hat (see the "Merlin" information below) she wore for Halloween, so I promised I would post her picture. She also received a bag of Halloween dog treats from Alice Mitchell, who works in HR at Replacements, Ltd. (Pinot is working on Alice to see if she might let us post one of her secret dog-treat recipes for our readers!)

Back in June 2007, colleague, friend, and former DinnerwareDiary.com guru, Garon Anders, had commented here about some of the items in a Sotheby's catalog published for the sale of the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis after her death in New York. Garon has pointed out her interest in Royal Derby china. Some of you at the time had asked for more information on the dinnerware items in the estate. With the press of other responsibilities, Garon wasn't able to respond further, but Pinot the Blog Dog and I were able to locate the catalog, The Estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, April 23-26, 1996, published by Sotheby's, New York. Pinot and I would like to share with you some additional information.

The beautiful book contains many archival photographs of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, President John F. Kennedy, and their children, Caroline and John. I confess it was difficult looking at the photos.

On an afternoon 45 years ago this month, I left my eighth-grade study hall to go to the band room to practice. I got my clarinet from the locker. In the practice room I saw Donna Spangler, a very pretty sophomore who played first-section clarinet (I was in the lowly third section), sitting at a table, sobbing, her instrument across her lap, its mouthpiece on the table. She looked up when I came in. Her eyes were red. Mascara ran down her cheeks. She told me President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. I felt my throat tightening, so I went out in the hall so Donna wouldn't see me cry.

I grew up in the mountains of Virginia, on a cattle and sheep farm, far from the glittering life of the Kennedys in Hyannisport or the halls of power in Washington, DC. Yet I remember running the quarter mile from the road to my house after the school bus dropped me off on afternoons when President Kennedy was holding one of his press conferences. I liked the assurance in his voice. I liked his ready smile, and his wit.

I grew up in a time when the Prince Edward County schools in Virginia had locked their doors, rather than submit to federally mandated school desegregation. I grew up in a time when in elementary school we conducted what now seem ludricrous civil defense drills where we students got under our desks for protection against a potential nuclear blast. I grew up in a time when my government assisted with the assassination of a political leader in Vietnam so that one who viewed our policies more favorably would be in power. I grew up in a time when our executive branch took on the pricing and profit terms of "Big Steel" in hopes of bolstering a sluggish economy. It was an uncertain, sometimes frightening time, but when I saw President Kennedy on TV, and heard his voice, I felt hope. Suddenly he was gone.

Just as hard to ponder in the book were the toddler and grown-up pictures of "John-John," who had gone from playing under his father's desk in the Oval Office to become a handsome, athletic New York publishing executive, known worldwide for his political magazine, George. Just as suddenly, he too was gone, along with his wife and sister-in-law, when a small plane he was piloting crashed in the cold waters off Martha's Vineyard.

So many memories.

As you would expect, there were exquisite pieces of furniture and art among the items that were auctioned. But there were also several pieces of dinnerware. Pinot and I came across a fascinating listing, "A Set of Twelve Grosvenor Bone China 'Merlin' Pattern Dinner Plates, 20th Century.... Provenance: The collection of Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss, Hammersmith Farm, Newport, Rhode Island." (Hugh D. Auchincloss was the stepfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. He married her mother, Janet Lee Bouvier, in 1942. Auchincloss helped Jackie get her first job in journalism, and gave her away at her wedding to John Kennedy in 1953. The reception took place at Hammersmith Farm.)

"Grosvenor China" was the trade name of the firm, Jackson & Gosling (Ltd) of Grosvenor Works, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, England. Jackson & Gosling was established ca. 1866, succeeding a firm called Jackson & Brown, established ca. 1864. In the early 1930s, the firm became associated with Copeland/Spode, when Arthur Edward ("Ted") Hewitt, of Grosvenor China, was appointed as a director of Copeland, which purchased Grosvenor China. The combined company was incorporated as "W. T. Copeland & Sons, Ltd.," in 1932. Ronald Copeland served as chairman; joint managing directors were Ted Hewitt (formerly of Grosvenor) and Gresham Copeland. For a period after the acquisition, the mark, "Copeland's Grosvenor China England," was sometimes used. Records indicate that Jackson & Gosling closed in 1969 and the trade name "Grosvenor China" was not used after that date. In 1970, W. T. Copeland & Sons, Ltd., was acquired by world-famous Spode, Ltd., a company founded by Josiah Spode in 1780. (For more information on Grosvenor China, please contact The Potteries Museum, Bethesda Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England ST1 3DW.)

Replacements, Ltd. has more than 200 Grosvenor China patterns on file. Among them is Merlin, one of the dinnerware patterns in the estate auctioned by Sotheby's. (The name, "Merlin," of course, would hold special significance for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who famously commented to a journalist that the days of the Kennedy White House were like the days of Camelot, the legendary castle of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, whose principal counselor, according to many depictions, was the aged wizard, Merlin.) Merlin is traditional, rimmed china, scallop-shaped, with an open center and an elegant, purple and gold stylized leaf, berry, and bud design on the rim and verge of the plate (the verge is the area where the rim merges with the center). The outside edge of the plate is trimmed with gold.

Please have a look at our web site to locate information on additional Grosvenor China patterns. We also have information on thousands of additional patterns of fine bone china from companies like Spode, Royal Albert, Royal Worcester, Haviland, and many more.

Pinot the Blog Dog and I will keep looking for items of interest. And we'll be calling on some of our friends here at Replacements, Ltd., for comments from time to time. Meanwhile, remember that for any of your dinnerware needs, whether it's china, crystal, or silver, or for information about fine collectibles, visit www.replacements.com. Thanks for your interest!
Ross Howell