Spode Reference Books

Over the past few months, I have made several additions to my small library of Spode research materials. I thought a quick overview might be helpful for any would-be Spode collectors out there.

Of course, I should start by mentioning my best go-to reference: Antique Blue and White Spode by Sydney B. Williams. Originally published in 1943, this helpful book features descriptions of the different Spode Blue patterns, along with interesting accounts of the history of each one. As you may have noticed, I reference this resource often. In addition to providing information, Williams gives a detailed chronological list of Spode markings, along with some pictures of some of the various Spode markings.



The next resource I found was a pamphlet called The Story of the Blue Room Collection, which is put out by Spode. In addition to some fascinating information about Spode history and the transfer process, there is a list of dated markings, which is particularly helpful for the budding collector.

I also ran across this Shire Album simply entitled Spode,  by Robert Copeland published in 1994. Again, this resource has lots of history, and some pictures, although in this case the photos are in black and white.

By far, the most impressive addition to my little research library in recent months has been the large and impressive Spode &Copeland by Steven Smith. This book is full of beautiful color illustrations, not only of the blue and white Spode pieces, but also many other colorful and beautiful pieces, like this hand painted plate featuring a stork. (Also, I must admit that I'm quite taken with the non-blue-and-white Maritime England Series)

So far the best and most useful part of this book for me has been the marking information towards the back. There is a pictorial markings list, as well as an explanation of the markings and what year different letter markings were used. This has allowed me to see not only what age range a piece was made during, but even to identify what year a specific item was made in. (Which is super helpful when trying to decide if an item is worth adding to my tiny Spode collection.)


And because I love old books, there is The Vernay Collector's Series: Old English Potteries and Porcelains. This is not a Spode book per se, but it does have a short chapter on Spode.

Lastly, I happened upon a little volume by Charles Dickens, of all people, entitled A Plated Article. Basically, Dickens is bored in a tiny village, where in his boredom, he picks up a Spode plate, which in true Dickensian style, begins speaking to him about how it was made and why he should be careful not to break it. It made for a humorous and charming read.

So, those are my Spode books. If you have suggestions for books I should add to my little research library, leave a comment!

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:

Bringing Out the Beauty of Boring Breakfasts

This week, two of my lovely nieces are visiting, and we decided to have a "fancy" breakfast. However, we had plans for mid-morning, so our breakfast time was somewhat rushed. We were determined to make our hum-drum eggs and cereal a memorable meal, so I rummaged in my "Spode bin" (as one niece calls it) for some pretty dishes.

The results were rather beautiful.

Not only did the food look amazing against the blue Spode, it was yummy (thanks to my younger niece who made us eggs!) and we had fun looking at the different patterns and discussing them.


A card table and an old lace curtain set outside were an easy way of bringing some elegance to our chocolate Chex cereal and scrambled eggs.

An Unusual Spode Sighting

Yesterday I was at a thrift store. That's not an unusual thing at all for me, but this time I had determined to be focused and not even go down the housewares aisles at all. My determination held until I was just about to get into the checkout line with my one item (now that's unusual!). It was at that point I decided to look at the section that had plates, just to see if there was any Spode.

Now, I have only ever found Spode at this particular thrift store once before, so the fact that I went to the housewares section with even the thought of looking for Spode is remarkable. However, I turned down the aisle and was met with a very unconventional bit of Spode pattern:

It was a set of bowls with a composite picture printed on them of various blue and white transferware pieces. Interestingly, I noticed the Spode pattern in the top left corner before I even noticed the dishes themselves. (It's Blue Italian, if you were wondering... and the plate behind it looks to be the same pattern.)

As I was looking at the bowls a bit of real Spode blue further down the aisle caught my eye. Upon investigation, I discovered that there were two Spode plates, marked 6.99 for the pair! --Not only that, but one of them was the "Continental Views" pattern which I had been wanting to add to my collection! (More on the "Continental Views" pattern to come!)

Needless to say, I was glad to have taken a look "just in case"!

Blue Italian

I was at Home Goods this week when, to my surprise, I looked up and was greeted by the happy sight of a Spode Blue Italian dinner plate! Strangely enough, there were no other Spode pieces there, but it was encouraging because new Spode has been strangely absent from stores around me lately. Perhaps more will follow!

Running across the Blue Italian pattern reminded me that I had not actually done much research on it yet, so I pulled my copy of Antique Blue and White Spode by Sydney B. Williams and opened to the chapter called “The Italian Influence”. I found out that, while the other Spode patterns featuring scenes from Italy were all based upon engravings from Merigot’s Views of Rome and its Vicinity, the engraving upon which the Blue Italian pattern was based had not yet been discovered at the time of Williams’ writing in 1943 or, presumably, at the time my 1987 edition was printed.

I did some further research, and found a fascinating post on the ever-informative Spode History blog, which confirmed that the source of the Blue Italian pattern is yet to be identified for sure, but there have been some possible steps forward. According to fellow Spode blogger Pam Woolliscroft, an architectural survey showed that the scene could be a composite of sketches, perhaps taken from a painting. Woolliscroft also mentioned that the Spode Museum has purchased a pen and ink drawing which could be the original, and that there is also a painting which is remarkably similar. Which, if either, is the basis for the Blue Italian pattern is yet to be discovered. Read more here.   

According to the Spode website, the Blue Italian pattern has been in production since 1816. And I must admit that as much as I love the antique dishes, it is wonderful to be able to put the newer Spode pieces in the dishwasher after a big gathering such as Christmas or Thanksgiving when there has been a houseful to feed. The new dishes are also microwave safe, which is great for reheating leftovers after the guests have left. 

There are arguments for both the new and the antique, but if the new Spode dishes appeal to you, you might stop by Home Goods for a Blue Italian dinner plate. 

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...

New vs. Antique Spode

When I began collecting my Spode dishes, I had little thought of becoming a serious collector of any kind: I just liked the dishes, and decided to buy them. As I began learning more about the dishes, however, I realized that one reason I liked them so much was because they were reproductions of old Spode I had seen and admired from childhood (though unknowingly at the time). Some of my favorite places had blue and white patterned dishes, and even the historic sites my family visited often had antique Spode as part of their exhibits. (Posts on those sites and their collections yet to come!)

And then there was the day I discovered a soup tureen on eBay for a surprisingly small opening bid. I looked at the pictures and saw the mark on the back. I remembered seeing a page in my go-to reference book Antique Blue and White Spode with a table of back markings and their dates, so I looked it up and, to my surprise, found it to be "perhaps the earliest marking"! Needless to say, I placed my bid right then, thrilled at the thought of owning a real antique piece of Spode! To my great disappointment, I was outbid. I watched the item until the end, though, when, quite dramatically and at the very last second, I placed another bid and won it back! I later found out that it dates from 1800-1820, during an era in which such historical events as the Battle of Waterloo and the War of 1812  were taking place.

The excitement of actually owning a piece of antique Spode spurred me to do some research as well as to do some practical thinking about the pros and cons of antique versus new Spode dishes.

The benefit of the antiques is mostly that of being able to hold in your hands a real piece of history, which has been held and used and cared for by the hands of generation after generation of people who lived through events and times we can only study about. It is even more meaningful if you happen to know about the prior owners of your Spode.

I have often wished there were a way to find out something about the people who owned my soup tureen, and have wondered whether the hands that washed it belonged to a servant or housewife, whether it stood on a grand mahogany dining table or on a rough wooden kitchen table. I wonder whether it was ordered by an American who sent a letter that crossed the seas to England, or whether it was brought over with an immigrant family as treasured possession. Did it have pride of place in a hutch or Welsh dresser, or was it just another dish? If you have an active imagination with a historical bent, these are the thoughts antique dishes inspire.

However, if your love of transferware comes with more of a practical mindset, then new Spode might be for you. These dishes are dishwasher and microwave safe and, like their older counterparts, are quite sturdy. Thus, you can have the look and quality of antique dishes with all the modern convenience of new dishes.

I suppose that's one reason why I love these Spode dishes so much: they are timeless classics, but still produced. I chose new Spode plates for my every day dishes because I knew they were replaceable if broken, and the older pieces I have are special because of their age, but they are of such good quality, I can actually use them just as I would newer dishes.