What types of dishes?

[Lilymess]

Re: What types of dishes?

I would like to agree with Garrison. As an archaeologist in Ohio I have come across thousands of artifacts relating to the 1860's. As is the case today, everyday china and other kitchen items are closely related to economic status. The most common types of dishes seen from your average farmsted include redware (storage), handpainted whiteware, whiteware with various slips, transfer prints (blue being the most common in my opinion), and of course just plain whiteware with maybe a molded rim. these tend to be found on your middle of the road farmsteds

Scott Derick
lillymess

[Trish Hasenmueller]

Re: What types of dishes?

I have found, fairly consistently, at Marshall's and T. J. Maxx discount stores, the reproduction Spode dishes. (plates and bowls) The wonderful thing about them is that they have the original date of production on the bottom. They also run around $7 to $9 a piece. If you don't need a set and may have acquired your dises 20 to 30 years before the war...or your parents did, this is the way to go.

Trish Hasenmueller

[Drygoods]

Re: What types of dishes?

With the hopes of getting some sutlers to read this and carry period tableware, and for all others, some old links and numbers that I have for period tableware;

Treenware---
A Cottage Garden

https://www.cottagegarden.com

8oo 851-4716

Boston Bowl Company
509 484-1927

Salem Collection
800 289-5006

Duck Creek Trading Company
330 373-6206

The Hearthside Collection

https://www.thehearthsidecollection.com

877 918-1433

Redware------

Circa 1820

https://www.circa1820.com

888 887-1820
(they also have pewter)

David Smith Workshops

https://www.davidsmith.com

513 932-2472

Stoneware----

Salmon Falls Stoneware
920 621-2030 ext#3

Rowe Pottery Works
Rowespottery.com
800 356-7687

Sunset Hill Stoneware

https://www.shstoneware.com

920 779-8836

Antique Hardware
antiquehardware.com
800 422-9982

Yellowware ---
Primitives By Kathy

https://www.primitivesbykathy.com

866 bykathy

Lustreware---
nutcracker designs
800 263-3551

Misc Glass---(look for the 'lacy glass' style, or early Gothic 1840s)
Victorian Trading Company

https://www.victoriantradingco.com

800 800-6647


I hope that other folks can list some sources as well.

if anyone is intereted, I'll be talking about period tableware at the NCWA conference in Benecia in two weeks (2-10/11) I'm sorry for the shameful plug, but it will show all original pieces of tableware from the 1840-60s. BTW, registration is still open at only $20@ for the entire conference!!

[Drygoods]

Re: What types of dishes?

I went back into the last post to edit and add another remark, but had a power failure so will write something here in the hope that if it fails again, something might be saved......

hint* take a look into your import stores. I know that you can find Blue Willow made by Churchill (England) for as little as $3.50 per plate, as well as other 'historical ware' or even Prattware transferware. Also, ironstone is very inexpensive at import stores, as low as $2 a piece, less if on sale.....best of all, they have plain, or gothic 1840s styles and most say 'ironstone' on the back hallmark of the piece.

Myself, I prefer to look at antique stores, or sometimes a thrift store. HOWEVER, the key point is that I know what I'm shopping for, so don't just go in those places any buy just anything. Do some research, write down the names of the patterns that interest you, or have enough for your table, and then look online to find details about your patterns BEFORE you buy.

[crabby]

Re: What types of dishes?

For those who are interested, we carry redware and stoneware pottery made by Rebecca Vincent Ricketts. You can see a photo of the pottery on our web site under the 'This & That' page. And though not listed we also have a variety of flatware available.

Sincerely,

Crabby

[CC sewing]

Re: What types of dishes?

At a conference I attended last weekend, we were provided with the following links for repro stonewear:

Westmoore Pottery - 19th Century

Hale Farm

Historic House Outfitters

The speaker also mentioned Old Sturbridge Village, but their gift shop is offline now. She also gave links for some odd cooking ingredients too, such as Deborah Peterson's Pantry

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: What types of dishes?

I consulted The Archaeology of Shirley Plantation (Theodore Reinhart, ed., 1984) and in the archaeology done around Shirley's slave quarters that were constructed sometime after 1843 (one surviving) there is one trend that outweighs all others: Even these slaves were using mostly undecorated earthenwares.

In three of the four areas surveyed white refined earthenware totaled 1267 artifacts recovered. Earlier ceramics like Rockingham only came in at 7 artifacts and Creamware with 4 artifacts recovered. In a refuse area near the site of these quarters 8 pieces of creamware were recovered, no Rockingham. 1195 artifacts of ironstone/graniteware were recovered in this trash area. Present in this area too were transferwares, porcelains (including Chinese export), salt-glazed and white salt glazed porcelain. The author of this essay, Genevieve Leavitt had this to say about the variety of patterns in the transferware:

"The wide range of transfer-printed designs suggests that the dishes may have been handed down by the planter; certainly it is possible to infer that they were obtained individually rather than by the set. Forty-three patterns representing approximately forty-nine items were recovered from the excavated areas, while fifty-two patterns representing sixty-nine items were found in the field survey." (p. 172-173, "Slaves and Tenant Farmers," The Archaeology of Shirley Plantation, Reinhart, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984.)

So before you rush out and grab up all the redware or Rockingham, consider that even those who couldn't afford much managed to not have either of these two ceramics on this plantation. (Other areas will vary!)

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: What types of dishes?

…1195 artifacts of ironstone/graniteware were recovered in this trash area. Present in this area too were transferwares, porcelains (including Chinese export), salt-glazed and white salt glazed porcelain...(Other areas will vary!).

...Decorative English Ironstone is the most common type of shard found in local house sites. I have cataloged tens of thousands of these. Found in large numbers; blue, green and manganese featheredge and prattware (an earthenware) shards tend to come from earlier sites...

The sites actually vary very little. The answer is clear.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: What types of dishes?

I looked at the Westmore Pottery line--all the pieces listed, with the exception of about three that were not table-ware at all, were for the late 1700s, early 1800s--a good half-century too early for the war era. While durable goods could be reused, this site doesn't seem to have much that would be useful to the working classes in the 1850s and 1860s, let alone upper economic classes.

Hale Farm also pre-dates our era by several decades, and during the huge boom of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s here in our country, that makes a difference. Advances in tableware production yeilded durable, cheap "ironstone" goods, available to the masses on this continent--and Americans have always been good at seizing upon advancements.

Historic Outfitters seems to follow the "rustic country" look--which is lovely for a colonial era home, but is between half and one full century too early for our era. This may be a case of "yes, it's something that was made in the past, but not right for OUR past in particular." If something was used and available in 1810, there's sure the potential that one or two survived daily use for the next half-century, and was in use in the 1860s--but the bigger likelihood is that daily use items were used, and lived a useful life, and died, and were replaced with something more modern--such as the very typical white clay goods mentioned by others above, from *very* humble circumstances.

[motozulli]

Re: What types of dishes?

Just for the record, I'll add here what kinds of dishes some urban working classes used. This is all from an excavation done in Five Points, a neighborhood in Manhattan that was one of the worst slums in the country in the first half of the century, but rose slightly in the 1850s after a portion of it was razed.

Anyway, found on the site of an Irish tenement and saloon:
(pictures here: http://r2.gsa.gov/fivept/oarts.htm )
-Matching white granite teaware set, made in England, 1840-1860
-Yellow ware mug; transfer-printed child's cup from the "Games and Pastimes" series (England, ca. 1820); luster ware creamer; and yellow ware (mocha) mug
-Stoneware beer bottles
-Yellow ware spittoon (American made) (this is pretty wild, you should have a look at it)

Chatham Street Oyster House
http://r2.gsa.gov/fivept/amarts.htm

-Staffordshire vegetable plate decorated with the "Castle of Saint Angelo" pattern, 1840s
-"Old blue" saucer with Lafayette contemplating the tomb of Franklin,
French series, Staffordshire, 1824-1835
-Red earthenware porringers (undated, unfortunately)

This site doesn't really give dates, which is a shame.

[celtfiddler]

Re: What types of dishes?

Another non-approved vendor, P. Palmer Drygoods offers both originals and reproduction items. Unfortunately the website doesn't seem to be working right now but it may return in the future. Therefore I will provide a link. http://www.historic-impressions.com/catalog/index.htm

Sadly, P Seth Magosky passed away this past weekend. As part of Historic Impressions he portrayed Marshall Field and John Wilkes Booth. His knowledge and enthusiasm for history will be greatly missed.

I have not been informed about the future of the historic-impressions website as of yet.

[Drygoods]

Re: What types of dishes?

-Yellow ware spittoon (American made) (this is pretty wild, you should have a look at it)

Miss Zulli,
I would have to say that is pretty wild, but to see a table cuspidor, and the yellowware variety even fits here, is also wild. Imagine the idea of having small 'spit cups' around the table so that one may still chew and dine at the same time. Yick!:tounge_sm

There is nothing new or unusual today, our ancestors were clever folks, far more clever than we give them credit for.

[Amy Denison]

Re: What types of dishes?

Thanks everyone!

I ended up finding a set of blue willow dishes on eBay... 8 place settings for a price of about $2 per dish. Seeing as how my husband paid at least $8 apiece for the pink willow dishes we have (which we will not use for reenacting, at that price), I think it's a good bargain.

[Amy Denison]

Re: What types of dishes?

Bahh... so much for that, the box came in today, smashed on one side, and over 1/3 of the dishes in it are shattered! They were wrapped in newspaper and had no markings on the box at all indicating that the contents are fragile. :baring_te

I've filed a claim with UPS, and I guess now I'm just going to have to search local stores. I am not brave ebough to order anything like that online again.

[Drygoods]

Re: What types of dishes?

Miss Denison,
I would suggest that you take a look into some of the import stores. I bought my first set of period style dishes from Cost Plus - Pier 1 - Globe Imports and found that the Blue Willow plates were only $3.99. They served their purpose until I found something that I liked better, but it was affordable and easy to fill in new pieces when they got broken.