Tips on Recognizing Old Spode

The newest addition to my small collection of Spode is what is probably a rimmed soup bowl in the Blue Italian pattern. 

It has a bit of a ridge around the edge, where the bowl and rim meet, which makes me wonder if it might actually be some sort of covered dish, similar to the muffin dish pictured in an earlier post. It is a bit shallow for a muffin dish, however, so my assessment thus far leans heavily in favor of a soup bowl. I suppose another option could be something like a lidded butter dish as well, although I haven't explored that possibility yet.

I had found this "mystery" bowl on eBay a while back, and there were several things about the listing that caught my eye and caused me to decide to bid on it. 

The first thing I noticed was that, the listing was for a "bowl", no other categories given. Those who know Spode usually include the type of bowl in the title. (e.g. "soup bowl", "ascot cereal bowl", "Pasta bowl", "Serving bowl", etc.)

Another thing about the listing that tipped me off was the fact that the pattern was misnamed. This was especially significant since Blue Italian is by far the most common of the Spode patterns. In this case, instead of Blue Italian, the seller merely described the pattern as "castle". (There is, by the way, a Spode pattern called "Gothic Castle", but  it bears no similarity to Blue Italian.)

When I looked at the pictures, the bowl had all the hallmarks of a piece of Old Spode, which are as follows:

1.The Back Mark

According to my amateur research (meaning I looked it up in my Spode resource books), this plain, impressed marking was used prior to 1833, which is when the Copeland period began. 

The Spode period lasted from 1764 to 1833, after which time "Copeland" appeared on the back markings alongside or sometimes instead of the Spode name. Markings from the Spode period also tend to be impressed, rather than transfer printed. (Although I have read that both Spode and Copeland period marks could be found either impressed, stamped, or transfer printed.)
Another indication that this is from a period prior to 1833 is the fact that the country of origin is not included in the marking. In 1833, legislation was passed in the United States that required all marked goods imported into the country to be marked with their country of origin. Thus, Spode pieces from 1833 on typically include the word "England" as part of their back marking.

The number, I believe, is a workman's mark. It was common during the Spode period for workers to use a number, letter, or other marking to signify that they were the workman who made a particular piece. This ensured that they would be paid for their work, since pay was based on how many items they completed.

2. The Feel: Thickness and Weight:

Another indication that the piece is old is the feel of the material itself. New Spode feels heavy and thick, like stoneware, while old Spode tends to feel thinner, more fragile, almost. It is a little lighter, and the plain white of the underside of the piece tends to be a bit less brilliant than new Spode, and perhaps even a little yellowy.

3. The Color: Faded, Lighter, or Slightly Different Hue.

Now, when I received this bowl, I was at first unsure that it could actually be old, because the glaze and the pattern were in such good condition. I thought perhaps it could be a reproduction, but when I compared the coloring with the brand-new Blue Italian cake stand I had just bought, as well as a Blue Italian cereal bowl, also brand new, the difference was striking. These two pieces are the exact same pattern, but their coloring is noticeably distinct:

While one is more purple, the other is a dusky hue, with almost a hint of yellow. The latter is consistent with another piece in my tiny collection, a soup tureen which dates from the Spode period as well.  The feel and look of both pieces being consistent, I became convinced that the finish was merely well-preserved. Also, upon further inspection, it does have some very light scratches in the glazing, just on the surface, consistent with use and age.

~ ~ ~ 

I always like to imagine where these old pieces of Spode have come from and what kind of "life" they have had before arriving on my doorstep. I believe this piece was either part of someone's collection, or else it is part of a lidded serving dish which was not needed very often. This would account for the well-preserved nature of the piece, particularly if there had been a lid, and it had not survived long and the base had been set aside. 

Cereal Bowls-- an Unexpected Blessing

Today, I stopped by TJ Maxx in search of a new journal. As I neared the first of the clearance displays on the back aisle (my favorite aisle in the store...) I met with the most unexpected and wonderful surprise!

 

Not only was there an abundance of Blue Italian, there was also a rack full of the Ascot cereal bowls I had been searching for!

When I first began collecting Spode, I was disappointed that there were no bowls to go with the plates I so loved. I must admit that it was not till last winter that I actually looked online to see if there were any Spode bowls in existence. That was when I first typed in "Blue Spode" to the Amazon.com search bar and was delighted to find that there was ever so much more Spode than I had realized.

I had bought a set of wide-rimmed soup bowls, but I soon decided that they would not work as well for cereal. Some time mid-January, I found a lovely "Camilla" patterned Ascot- style cereal bowl. It was deeply discounted because it had been cracked and repaired. With the discount, I was happy to purchase it regardless of condition, because I had been wondering how much cereal one of these bowls would hold, since they looked a bit small in the pictures.

When I checked, I found that the cereal bowl held at least one serving of cereal (according to the serving size on the box), plus just the right amount of milk. I wanted to order more cereal bowls, but they were sold out on Amazon (as they had been for months), and a visit to the Spode website yielded the same results.

A couple months later, I found a set of two similar bowls in the "Blue Italian" pattern on eBay, but I had to pay shipping and, although I got a good deal, they were still pretty expensive. When I found the cache of Spode at the store tonight, my first thought was "I don't have to pay shipping!" Then I turned one over and found that they were $8 each, which is much less than they would be individually on Amazon! $16 each, and still a few dollars less than they would be if bought as a set of four.

Now, you might be wondering about the practicality of having a separate bowls just for cereal, but they also work well for ice cream (if you like a little more than the little dessert bowls hold), and a single-serve yogurt fits nicely in the small bowls. There's just something satisfying about having a dish that holds one serving of food, instead of feeling like your one serving is tiny because it's sitting in a too-large dish. --Think of it as beautiful portion control!

There were also several spice jars on clearance, including the Basil jar which I had been wanting, for only $6, as well as lots of dinner and salad plates. I exercised my self-control, however, and only purchased this much:

Pasta Bowls: Practical or Pointless?

A while back, I decided to make a list of what dishes I had, and which dishes I still needed. As I browsed the search results for "blue Spode" on Amazon.com, I began listing the things I wanted in order of importance. At the bottom of the list, in tiny letters, with a question mark at the end, were the two words: "pasta bowls". I almost didn't write them down because, let's be honest, there are many kinds of bowls to choose from. With soup bowls, cereal bowls (coupe or ascot), dessert bowls, serving bowls of many shapes, sizes, and descriptions, who needs a separate bowl just to eat pasta from?

One day, while at an antique store, I came across one of these flat pasta bowls at a rather good price and in the Geranium pattern I had been wanting, so I bought it, figuring that I could try it out and see if I thought it would be worth the investment to buy more.

That very day, my eBay search turned up what looked like a set of pasta bowls, but in the description it sounded like it was just one. It was about the same price as the one I had just bought, but I wasn't sure if I should spend money on yet another pasta bowl. I shared my dilemma with my mom, who asked to see the bowl I had just bought. As I showed it to her, she immediately gave me the answer to my dilemma: she pointed out that they would be perfect for a main dish salad! Now, I don't eat pasta very often, but I do eat salads, especially in the summer! So, I placed my bid for more pasta bowls.

To be fair, the soup bowls might work well for salads, but the unique shape of the pasta bowls makes them perfect for a salad: flat like a plate, but with short, curved sides which keep bits of salad from sliding off while you're eating. The other benefit of the plates is that I am far more likely to eat a salad if I can put it into a dish in which it looks beautiful!

This first week of Summer break, I have enjoyed going out to the garden and picking fresh greens for my salads, which of course look beautiful in my blue and white Spode pasta bowls!

[P.S.]
 --I have yet to use them for pasta...

The Budget Collector

Perhaps you, like me, have fallen in love with the beautiful blue-and-white loveliness that is Spode dishes. (Or perhaps their red, brown, or green dishes are the object of your affection.) And perhaps, like me, you can't afford to go to Spode.com and order twelve place settings and all the serving dishes you could ever want.

Well, if you're like me, this post is just for you!

As I've mentioned, I'm a Spode collector, but I'm also working with a rather small dish budget. It's actually rather amazing the different places I've ended up finding Spode, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite venues for the ever-so-exciting Spode-collecting treasure hunts.

• Antique Shops: (especially those lovely cluttered ones that let lots of people put their items on consignment... sometimes they have cheaper prices than snooty, well-organized ones.) These can still be a bit pricey, but if you're looking for something specific like the spice jars I recently posted about, it can work out great! 
• Thrift Stores: These can have great bargains, especially if your Spode find is the 50% off tag! However, thrift Spode can be few and far between. I rarely actually find Spode in the thrift stores here in Oregon. That having  been said, I did find these lovely candlesticks in the Ionian pattern just last Thursday!
  
  (So it's possible... just be patient!) --This is probably the cheapest way to buy Spode.
• New in Stores: (On clearance if it lasts that long!) The first Spode dishes I ever bought were new from Tuesday Morning. I've also found Spode at the Marshall's family of stores (Home Goods and T J Maxx are part of that "family", but all three tend to stock different pieces of Spode). The prevalent Staffordshire wares in stock this year seem to be mostly Churchill and Johnson Bros. (Good stuff, but not quite as lovely as Spode in my opinion.) As far as price goes, brand new dishes tend to be more expensive, but if you can wait long enough (and they don't sell out), the clearance prices are usually much better.
• eBay: This is the way I have found most of my Spode pieces. One of my prized possessions is a soup tureen in the Tower pattern. I ended up winning it with a dramatic last-second bid, and paid only $51 plus shipping for a tureen which I knew was an actual antique (more on that later!). You can also sometimes get things for $0.99 plus shipping if you are the only bidder. The one drawback to eBay is that you have to pay shipping, which usually means that your actual output for an item is roughly what you would have paid at an antique shop. (unless you find a steal or the seller offers free shipping). 
• Clearance: One other way I have purchased Spode is from Spode.com. They sometimes have clearance items (I think they might now call their clearance section the "Great Deals" section or something like that), which is where I found the mug and tin which was featured in my recent post about the Lucano pattern.

These are all the best places I've found so far. I've heard that garage sales can be great sources, too, and I'm looking forward to using some of my time off this summer to go garage sale-ing in search of Spode.

--A quick question to any readers out there: What's your favorite way to find bargain Spode? Comment and share your answer! :)