Thursday 25 October 2007

Royal Doulton. A Brief History

I suppose it would be impossible to deal in a tableware for nearly twenty years, without developing at least a passing interest in the history of some of the main UK tableware manufacturers.

Royal Doulton is on of the best know names in the UK tableware industry. However, when the original Doulton business was started in the early 19th Century, it produced mainly stoneware decorative items, sanitary ware and such items as drainpipes. It was not until the end of that century that they started to produce bone china tableware at Stoke on Trent.

In 1901, courtesy of Kng Edward VII, they were allowed to use "Royal" as part of their name. In more recent years Royal Doulton have incorporated other well know ceramic manufacturers such as Minton, Royal Albert, and John Beswick. More recently still, Royal Doulton was merged with Allied English Potteries and thus also incorporated Royal Crown Derby, and Royal Albert.

In many ways it seems a pity that so many of the well know smaller companies have now disappeared, but I suppose it is inevitable in this day of the large conglomerates. I have always felt that the smaller companies were able to be more innovative in their approach to new designs and processes.

Now, of course, much of Royal Doulton's tableware is produced abroad. Time will tell if customers are satisfied with the quality of such items.

In the meantime, if you require any items of discontinued Royal Doulton tableware, visit our website at http://www.replaceyourchina.com/royal-doulton-9-c.asp


Enjoy your tableware.

Chris Eley
http://www.replaceyourchina.com/

Sunday 21 October 2007

Royal Doulton Replacements

My business was initially based on the replacement of discontinued Poole Pottery tableware, but I must have been doing something right because over the years I have been asked by both existing and new clients to try to source many other makes of tableware for them.

One of the manufacturers that we are now asked for most is Royal Doulton. Royal Doulton have been in existence for many years and have produced thousands of tableware patterns in that time. Obviously most of those patterns are not longer being manufactured, so we now try to locate good condition previously owned items from that multitude of discontinued Doulton ranges.

I am sometimes asked which patterns of Royal Doulton we are asked for most. To be honest, I have never bothered to keep a league table: perhaps it is something I should do in the future. However, after nearly 20 years in the business I have got a pretty good idea of what clients are likely to ask for. Contrary to what you might expect, we tend to be looking for some of the more common patterns rather than the rare ones. Most of our clients come to us because they have broken items from sets of tableware that they use, so they want to make the sets up again. The more highly priced antique items are kept in the china cabinet and do not get broken, so they do not need to be replaced.

The Royal Doulton patterns that are requested most often from us are such ranges as Pastorale, Carnation, Florentina, Autumns Glory, Sherbrooke, Berkshire, Larchmont, Mandalay, Reflection, Polonaise, Sonnet, Rondelay, Diana, Carlyle etc. Most of these patterns have been produced in the last 40 years.

If you are interested in purchasing items of discontinued Royal Doulton, please visit our web site at www.replaceyourchina.com/royal-doulton-9-c.asp

If you are looking to sell such items drop me an email at chris@replaceyourchina.com or telephone us on 01202 600838. Please note that we only purchase items that are in perfect condition. Items that are worn, scratched, chipped, crazed or otherwise damaged will not be accepted, and we only purchase from within the UK mainland.

Enjoy your tableware.
Regards
Chris Eley
Replace Your China
Tel: 01202 600838

Monday 15 October 2007

Selling Tableware

Many clients approach me to ask if we buy tableware, or just sell it.

Simple answer really. If we don't buy, we will have nothing to sell.

If you have china or pottery tableware which you wish to sell tell us about it, either by telephone or by email. However, bear in mind that we will only purchase items that are in virtually "as new" condition. Items that are scratched, chipped, crazed, cracked, worn or faded will not be accepted. Some other dealers might be interested in selling worn out items, but I have built a business reputation by only dealing in quality products. My rule of thumb has always been that the items that we eventually offer for sale must be of such quality that I would be happy to use them on my own table in the presence of guests - even when the mother in law comes to visit.

The other things that you need to tell us when offering items for sale are:

1 Manufacturer's name, (eg Poole Pottery, Denby, Royal Doulton, Hornsea, Johnson Bros or whatever).

2 Pattern name. Often this is shown on the reverse of the item, or sometimes just a pattern code (often a combination of letters and numbers) is shown. If you cannot find either of these types of identification, include a photograph of a sample item.

3 We usually collect items from you, if we agree a purchase price, so tell us what area the items will need to be collected from.

Once I have received the above information, I will contact you to let you know if we are intersted in purchasing the items, and what price we are able to offer. If you accept our offer, we will then arrange to collect the items from you at a mutally convenient time and date.

It really is as simple as that.

Regards
Chris Eley
www.replaceyourchina.com
Email: chris@replaceyourchina.com

Saturday 6 October 2007

Poole Pottery Twintone Pattern Codes

There is some discussion as to when Poole Pottery first introduced Twintone.

To the best of my knowledge the typical two colour ranges were first produced in the 1930's, but at that time they were not officially called Twintone. It appears that the term "Twintone" was probably first used when the range was reintroduced after the restrictions imposed during the Second World War.


As stated in an earlier blog, we tend to see only about half a dozen of these colour ranges on a regular basis, but there were in fact over 50 such colour ways produced. When seeking to identify a particular colour combination it is worth starting off by looking at our Poole Pottery gallery on Replace Your China. If that does not work, have a look at the base of all the pieces that you have. If you are lucky, you might just find a pattern code printed by Poole Pottery. The Twintone coded took the form of a letter and either two or three numerals. Over the years that we have been in business, we have constructed a list of those pattern codes, and reproduce it below for the assistance of collectors.

  1. C50 Pink and Seagull

  2. C51 Ice Green and Polar

  3. C52 White and Cornfield

  4. C53 Celadon and Ice Green

  5. C54 Sepia and Mushroom

  6. C55 Magolia and Celadon

  7. C56 Celadon and Magnolia

  8. C57 Ice Green and Seagull

  9. C58 Shagreen and Shagreen

  10. C59 Ice Green and Sepia

  11. C60 Ice Green and Celadon

  12. C61 Ice Green and Magnolia

  13. C62 Magolia and Ice Green

  14. C63 Magnolia and Mushroom

  15. C64 Mushroom and Sepia
  16. C65 Magnolia and Shagreen
  17. C66 Sunshine and Polar
  18. C67 Celadon and Seagull
  19. C68 Cleadon and Polar
  20. C69 Mushroom and Magnolia
  21. C70 Nigger and Polar
  22. C71 Sepia and Zulu
  23. C72 Sepia and Seagull
  24. C73 Sepia and Polar
  25. C74 Celadon and Magnolia
  26. C75 Magnolia and Shagreen
  27. C76 Polar and Turquoise
  28. C77 Mushoom and Shagreen
  29. C78 Seagull and Shagreen
  30. C79 Sky and Hyacinth
  31. C80 Seagull and Celadon
  32. C81 Pink and Magnolia
  33. C82 Sea Green and New Forest
  34. C83 Sky Blue and Seagull
  35. C84 Sky Blue and Magnolia
  36. C85 Sepia and Magnolia
  37. C86 Sky Blue and Magnolia
  38. C87 Sepia and Magnolia
  39. C88 Hyacinth and Seagull
  40. C89 Hyacinth and Magnolia
  41. C90 Sunshine and Seagull
  42. C91 Hyacinth and Magnolia
  43. C92 Sepia and Pampas
  44. C93 Celadon and Shagreen
  45. C94 Muscatel and Cactus
  46. C95 Reg Indian and Magnolia
  47. C96 Ice Green and Mushroom
  48. C97 Peach Bloom and Seagull
  49. C98 Peach Bloom and Ice Green
  50. C99 Ice Green and Peach Bloom
  51. C100 Peach Bloom and Mist Blue
  52. C101 Mushroom and Peach Bloom
  53. C102 Lime Yellow and Moonstone Grey
  54. C103 Lime Yellow and Seagull
  55. C104 Sky Blue and Dove Grey
  56. C105 Alpine White and Dove Grey
  57. C106 Alpine White and Black Panther
  58. C107 Sweetcorn and Brazil
  59. C108 Ice Green and Seagull
  60. C109 Sunshine Yellow and Seagull


Although much of this information has been gleaned through nearly 20 years of dealing in Poole Pottery tableware, I must give credit to some of the information which I have gained from Leslie Hayward's excellent book, "Poole Pottery" published by Richard Dennis. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Poole Pottery and its history.

I hope that some of this information has been helpful and I will try to add to it in coming blogs.

Enjoy your tableware

Chris Eley

www.replaceyourchina.com




Tuesday 2 October 2007

Poole Pottery Twintone Tableware Identification

One of the challenges facing people who wish to add to their existing sets of Poole Pottery tableware, is that very often they do not know the name of the pattern that they have. Poole Pottery have not, in general, been very good at putting the names of the patterns on the backstamp of the plates.



Probably the easiest way to identify the range that you are seeking is to view the gallery of photographs of Poole Pottery patterns at Replace Your China. The gallery covers most of the more commonly requested Poole patterns and is being added to all the time. Currently available items from each of the pattern ranges are also photographed on the site and can be purchased on line or by telephone (01202 600838).



One of the best known ranges of Poole Pottery is the Twintone colour style. Although there are about half a dozen colour combinations in this range that are seen on a regular basis, it comes as a surprise to many people that in fact Poole produced over 50 such colour combinations. These colour combinations were usually known by the names of the two colours (twin tones), such as Sky Blue and Dove Grey, Ice Green and Seagull or Sweetcorn and Brazil. However, each colour combination was also allocated a pattern code by Poole Pottery. These codes took the form of the letter "C" followed by either two or three numerals. The above three patterns for example were respectively C104, C57 and C107. If you are not sure of the name of your Twintone pattern it is often worthwhile checking the base of all of your pieces, to see if any of them bear such a number. Most will not have the number on them, but the odd one or two just might have it. In a future blog I will try to list the pattern codes with their names.



The term "Seagull", when applied to Poole Pottery Twintone, often seems to cause confusion. Seaull is a mottled grey effect in the finish of several of the colour ranges, such as Ice Green and Seagull, Peach Bloom and Seagull, Lime Yellow and Seagull, and Pink and Seagull. All of these colour ranges have the mottled grey of Seagull to compliment their alternate colour.



I hope that this has been of some help, and as stated earlier, I will try to list the pattern codes and their corresponding colours in a future post.



Enjoy your tableware and please allow us to fill the gaps on your table.



Chris Eley

Replace Your China

Tel: 01202 600838