Dinnerware Diary

Design Excellence From Wedgwood & Gorham

Runnymede-Blue by Wedgwood China is traditional fine bone English china, produced between 1972 and 1998. It features a pink shell design with scrolls set against a sharp cobalt blue background, a floral center design, and a golden yellow band around a smooth rim. Wedgwood China was founded in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood I as the "Ivy House Works" in Burslem, England. Josiah, in addition to being an entrepreneur, was a conchologist, a person intensely interested in the study and classification of seashells. He was a regular on the beaches of England, always searching for rare shells to add to his collection and to use as subjects for modeling new dinnerware patterns and pieces. (His son, Josiah II, would later hire the Romantic poet and visionary artist, William Blake, to prepare engravings for the company's catalog.) A great example of the seashell heritage at Wedgwood is the gorgeous Runnymede-Blue pattern featured here.

Produced between 1960 and 1999, Cherrywood-Clear by Gorham Crystal is a classic crystal design, concave-shaped and flaring at the top, with criss-cross cuts in a fan design on the bowl. The stem is multi-sided, with a round foot. The unique faceted cuts in Cherrywood sparkle like diamonds and change any table setting from ordinary to extraordinary, adding a sparkle and brilliance that is breathtaking!

Named after the famous French palace of Chantilly, Gorham's Chantilly pattern is the most popular sterling flatware pattern ever produced. Chantilly's graceful border and floral designs were inspired by the Rococo style of early eighteenth century France.  During the reign of King Louis XV, Rococo emerged in response to the heavier, highly ornate art of the late Baroque period. Rococo comprised elaborate designs with playful swirls, scrolls, and decoration. The Chantilly pattern features a distinctive scroll design with fleur-de-lis accents. According to Gorham literature, Chantilly is "essentially a pattern that will appeal to those who seek in the family silver a certain simplicity with just enough ornament to relieve it of the appearance of plainness."  Gorham Silver's founder, Jabez Gorham, was born into a family of eight and apprenticed to eighteenth-century New England silver patriarch Nehemiah Dodge at a very early age. In 1831, Gorham founded his own company in Providence, RI. He quickly established a reputation for creating hand-crafted silver of the highest quality. Gorham Silver's reputation for excellence endures today.

Italian-Inspired Tableware for the Holidays

Mikasa Italian Holiday features a poinsettia, a spray of mistletoe tied with festive ribbon, and a brass horn decorated with holly. This lovely whiteware is completed with an embossed fluted rim accented with scroll designs and green trim. The Italian Holiday pattern beautifully represents the craftsmanship and production excellence associated with the Mikasa company. In the early 1930s, Mikasa was established as an international trading company based in Secaucus, New Jersey. The company, while wholly American, looked to Japan for inspiration. Named in honor of Prince Mikasa, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, Mikasa soon established itself as one of the most recognized Japanese brand names in the West.

Complementing the elegant Italian Holiday design is the provincial elegance of Mikasa Italian Countryside crystal.  This stunning blown glass design features an embossed, ribbed design on a convex bowl that curves in at the top, a multisided stem, and a round base. One can very easily picture a collection of these pieces being displayed in the tableware cabinet of an Italian farmhouse! Importing merchandise produced by a network of over 150 manufacturers worldwide, Mikasa never attempted to make any of the dinnerware it sold. Rather, the Mikasa branded items were imported from Japan, Ireland, England, France, and Germany. Business exploded in the 1950s, and tableware became the staple business for Mikasa. Customer requests were pouring in from all parts of the country, and department stores including Bloomingdale's and Macy's could not keep enough stock to meet demand. Consumers found Mikasa ceramics to be very strong, versatile, and stylish.

Italian Countryside flatware by Mikasa is 18/8 stainless flatware (18/8 represents the ratio of chromium and nickel used in the stainless steel, which adds luster and durability to the pieces) featuring a glossy finish, and a ribbed design that perfectly complements the Mikasa Italian Holiday and Italian Countryside patterns. By the beginning of the 1960's, Mikasa had established a reputation as "the pioneer of American casual." They refined their product range by introducing new patterns in unique groups known as "lines." For example, the 'Studio Nova' line was produced for the "young-at-heart" casual diners who would likely eat their meals in the kitchen. The 'Home Beautiful' line appealed to those who wanted durability and affordability.  'Christopher Stuart' reflected the taste of the consumer who "wants a broad selection of styles." Today, Mikasa continues to leverage the momentum it has built over the decades since its inception. The exquisite Mikasa patterns showcased here are sure to add a touch of excitement to any holiday table!

Festive Tableware, American Artistry

Lenox Holiday Tartan is a marvelous holiday pattern featuring a graceful plaid ribbon that wends its way amongst holly sprigs and clusters of fruit and nuts. With a festive motif and dazzling gold trim, Holiday Tartan is a wonderful Lenox china pattern for the holiday table! Defined by stripes of alternating widths and colors, the tartan design has become closely associated with Scotland. The word "tartan" is believed to be derived from the French word "tiretaine," meaning a "strong, coarse fabric." Although there is no official record of different tartan designs, there are believed to be as many as 14,000 different designs (known as "setts"). Although it is commonly believed that tartan designs were developed as a form of Scottish clan identification, the idea of each clan claiming its own tartan design didn't begin until around the start of the nineteenth century. Before then, tartan colors were more specific to region than clan, since weavers depended on local, regional plants for the dyes they used in their designs. "Tartanwear," which incorporated tartan designs on a vast array of items, became very popular in the Victorian era. Producing its first complete china sets by 1906, Lenox proved that American china could be as delicate, attractive, and durable as its foreign counterparts, and propelled the United States to the forefront of the ceramics industry. By the end of the twentieth century, about half the china on dinner tables in the United States was made by Lenox.

Gorham Crystal Royal Devon features polished thumbprint and fan cuts, a multi-sided, v-shaped stem, gold trim, and round foot. This stately crystal pattern superbly complements the elegant Holiday Tartan and Francis I china and silver patterns. Gorham, originally known for its high-quality sterling silver, was founded in 1831 on Steeple Street in Providence, RI. Over the 180 years the company has been in business, it has produced a multitude of silver patterns, most notably, Chantilly, a household name, and the best-selling flatware pattern ever produced. In recent years, Gorham has moved into other tableware areas, including the production of exquisite crystal, like Royal Devon, and high-quality china.

Reed & Barton Francis I is sterling silver with fan, plume and floral designs on the handle and heel of each piece that show the strong influence of European Baroque art. Introduced by Reed & Barton in 1907, Francis I quickly became a favorite of nobility and presidents. No less than four U.S. presidents dined with Francis I - Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Gerald Ford. It's truly bipartisan sterling - an equal number of Democratic and Republican presidents have used it on their tables! Reed & Barton of Taunton, MA, traces its origins to a jewelry store founded by Isaac Babbitt in 1822. After changes in ownership, the company began to use the "Reed & Barton" stamp on its silver in the 1840s. Now well into its second century of operation, Reed & Barton is a leader in finely crafted sterling silver and stainless steel tableware.

Frank W. Smith Silver "Lion" Carving Set

Introduced in 1903, Lion by Frank W. Smith Silver is an exquisite pattern that features a majestic lion at its tip with crisp, detailed mane and claws that reach around the sides. The back of the pieces feature the back of the crouching lion with more impeccable detailing on its mane and tail. With its eye-catching, detailed ornamentation, Lion is one of the best-known flatware patterns produced by Frank W. Smith, and the 3-piece carving set featured here is a fantastic representation of this magnificent pattern.

Since ancient times, the cutting and distribution of meat has been at the center of great feasts. In the great banquet halls of medieval castles, the knife was the most common utensil - many guests would arrive with their own. The carving station was a prized station in the household, presided over by a skilled worker who exhibited civility and good breeding, as well as (one would imagine) a certain degree of showmanship. Carving at the time was an elaborate process, governed by a variety of rules, special knives, and instruction on how to carve each different animal. An entire book dedicated to the art of carving, "Boke of Keruynge," was published in 1508 by Wynkyn de Worde, and a 1581 text by Vincenzo Cervio, a famed Italian carver of the time, explained how to carve meats as they were held by the fork in midair, in an elaborate tableside show. By the 1700s and 1800s, carving was considered an important skill, one passed down from fathers to sons.

As meals became more informal during the nineteenth century, the importance placed on the art of carving began to wane. It became an acceptable practice to carve while sitting down, and the duties of carving shifted from the "head" of the household to others. By the mid-nineteenth century, as the practice of "service a la francaise" (where every item of a particular service was brought to the table at once) was replaced with "service a la russe" (in which food items were precut and plated before coming to the table), the responsibility of carving passed from the host to the kitchen staff. Still, the head of the house was expected to employ a certain degree of carving aptitude at informal gatherings. A 1908 text on etiquette states: "At a formal dinner, all carving will have been done outside of the diningroom. At an informal, or family dinner, where the food is placed upon the table, the host is expected to attend to the carving, the acquisition of which art is most desirable by every gentleman. The carving knife should be well sharpened in advance. The carver naturally becomes the helper, and he should indicate for whom he destines the first plate, having previously asked what cut is preferred."

The Frank W. Smith Silver Company was founded in 1886 in Gardner, Massachusetts. Its founder, Frank W. Smith, had previously learned the silversmith trade from his uncle, William B. Durgin. Initially, the company only produced sterling silver flatware. When Smith decided to expand his production to hollowware in 1889, he hired one of the company's first (and arguably most successful) designers, Arthur J. Stone. The company excelled at producing both machine-made products, using state-of-the-art equipment, and handmade wares crafted by individual artisans. The business grew rapidly - by 1892, Smith had doubled the size of his original factory. The Lion pattern was designed by Pierre J. Cheron, who began working for Frank W. Smith in 1901. In addition to designing Lion, Cheron also received acclaim for his hollowware designs, including a punch set for the USS Louisiana battleship. Upon Frank W. Smith's death in 1904, the company was taken over by his son, William D. Smith. In 1958, the company's tools and dies were sold to the Webster Company, a subsidiary of Reed & Barton.

Happy Holidays!

Spode Christmas Tree was designed in 1938 by English designer Harold Holdway for Spode's North American counterpart, Copeland and Thompson. Since Holdway had never seen a Christmas tree decorated in the American style, his original sketch depicted Christmas presents hanging on the tree's limbs, like ornaments. When he was told gifts in America were placed under the tree, he revised his sketch to reflect that tradition. He did manage to leave a unique touch, however. Since he did not realize that most Americans used angels or stars as tree toppers, Holdway placed a figure of Santa Claus atop his tree design! While the unique design created some concern among Holdway's North American colleagues, it was commissioned for production. The results have been spectacular - Spode Christmas Tree-Green Trim is the most popular of all the more than 360,000 patterns carried at Replacements, Ltd.!

Duncan & Miller First Love is blown glass with intricate floral designs etched on the bowl and a shapely ball stem. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Duncan & Miller got its start in 1865, when George Duncan bought the Ripley & Company glass factory and created Duncan & Sons, a partnership between Duncan and his sons, Harry B. Duncan and James E. Duncan, and his son-in-law, Augustus H. Heisey. Later, John Ernest Miller joined the company as a designer, and, during the next 52 years, would become world renowned for his glass designs. Around 1892 Augustus Heisey left Duncan & Sons to start his own glass company in Newark Ohio. The period from 1893 to the closing of the plant in 1955 is generally known as the Duncan-Miller period, although the partnership was not official until 1900, when the firm was incorporated as Duncan & Miller Glass Company. The handmade glass at the Duncan & Miller Glass Company was distinguished by the artistry of design, the skill of the workers, the batch formulas, and the lovely colors of their glassware. Many of the Duncan & Miller pieces required ten or more people to create each piece. Duncan & Miller ceased production in 1955, as machines and assembly lines made the production of handmade glass unprofitable. Duncan & Miller glass is now highly sought by collectors.

First produced in 1951, International Silver Old Charleston is an alluring sterling flatware pattern with an elegant floral motif, a scalloped tip, and a glossy finish. International Silver started as a combination of America's greatest silver manufacturers. During the American Colonial period, New England was home to many artisans producing high-quality pewter, sterling, and silverplate, primarily in Connecticut. Around 1808, Ashbile Griswold opened a pewter shop in Meriden, Connecticut. Through mergers with regional companies, Griswold's original shop grew to comprise fourteen silver manufacturers, including Holmes and Edwards (Bridgeport), Meriden Britannia (Meriden), and Rogers Brothers (Hartford). In 1898, the International Silver Company became truly "international," establishing offices in England and Canada. Throughout the years, International Silver products have remained immensely popular.

Exquisite Designs for the Holiday Table

Spode Christmas Tree was designed in 1938 by English designer Harold Holdway for Spode's North American counterpart, Copeland and Thompson. Since Holdway had never seen a Christmas tree decorated in the American style, his original sketch depicted Christmas presents hanging on the tree's limbs, like ornaments. When he was told gifts in America were placed under the tree, he revised his sketch to reflect that tradition. He did manage to leave a unique touch, however. Since he did not realize that most Americans used angels or stars as tree toppers, Holdway placed a figure of Santa Claus atop his tree design! While the unique design created some concern among Holdway's North American colleagues, it was commissioned for production. The results have been spectacular - Spode Christmas Tree-Green Trim is the most popular of all the more than 360,000 patterns carried at Replacements, Ltd.!

Fostoria's American-Clear (also known as "Early American") was designed by Phillip Ebeling in 1915.  The design was immediately patented and the pattern quickly became one of Fostoria's best selling patterns.  This heavy, pressed-glass line features a prismatic cube design that rests atop a multi-faceted, smooth stem and hexagonal base.  American-Clear was Fostoria's bestselling pattern for 67 years, during which time it was produced in a variety of different colors, including aqua, black, blue, canary, cobalt blue, gray, green, pink, plum, ruby, and others. Founded in Fostoria, OH, in 1887, the Fostoria company relocated to Moundsville, WV, shortly thereafter, because of that region's abundant natural resources. Fostoria was acclaimed for lines of popular colored-glass stemware introduced the 1920s, along with its clear glass and etched patterns. After meeting decades of stiff foreign competition with classic designs and innovative glass-making methods, Fostoria operations were shut down by its parent company, Lancaster Colony, in 1983. Fostoria glass is highly sought-after by collectors today.

Reed & Barton's El Greco is a gorgeous sterling pattern that features a scalloped tip, an intricately detailed pierced design, and a glossy finish. While El Greco is very stylish on its own, its ornate design is an ideal complement to the Christmas Tree and American-Clear patterns. El Greco is emblematic of its maker, Reed & Barton of Taunton, MA, a company that traces its origins to a jewelry store founded by Isaac Babbitt in 1822. Now well into its second century of operation, Reed & Barton is a leader in finely crafted sterling silver and stainless steel. With the Reed & Barton El Greco sterling pattern on your table, you'll enjoy the distinctive design and high quality silver that customers have praised for nearly 200 years!

Golden Accents for the Holidays

Lenox Holiday (Dimension) is classic cream-colored porcelain featuring a design of vibrant green holly sprigs and iridescent red berries with wide gold trim. Number 2 on the list of the 20 best-selling holiday patterns at Replacements, Ltd., Holiday (Dimension) offers a wide range of place setting, serving, and accessory pieces. It's one of the most festive and versatile patterns in our inventory. Founded in 1889 by Walter Scott Lenox in Trenton, NJ, the "Staffordshire of America" of its time, the Lenox Ceramic Pottery Company produced art-quality pieces. By 1897 examples of Lenox's work were displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. In 1918 President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson commissioned a set of Lenox for the White House, making it the first American china to grace a president's table.

Rogaska Richmond (Gold Trim/Multi-Sided Stem) crystal features beautiful polished crisscross cuts on the bowl and starburst cuts on the foot - it's gorgeous! Rogaska was founded in 1665 (that is, more than 100 years before America's founding fathers convened in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence) in the mountains of Slovenia, a region long recognized for its glass making. While Rogaska uses modern technologies and processes, the heart of the company's production has been constant since the 17th century - the individual glassblower and glass cutter, devoted to the aesthetics of their work. With generations of skilled artisans in its employ and world-class crystal designers creating new wares, Rogaska is admired in the crystal industry for unwavering quality and magnificent design.

Golden Ribbon Edge is high-quality stainless steel by Gorham Silver. Edges feature rope design gold-colored accents - this stainless will look at home on the most formal of dinner tables. Gorham Silver was founded by Jabez Gorham in 1831 in a shop on Steeple Street in Providence, RI. Born into a family of eight, Gorham had been apprenticed to 18th century New England silver patriarch Nehemiah Dodge at an early age. After founding his own company, Gorham quickly established a reputation for hand-crafted silver of the highest quality. Gorham Silver produced flatware for the White House of Mary Todd Lincoln, a silver vase for Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, and Gorham Chantilly sterling was used aboard Air Force One during the presidency of George H. W. Bush.