At the turn of the last century, the potteries along the Ohio River were working overtime to fulfill rapidly increasing orders - bricks for streets, clay products for drainage, durable toilet wares, and dinnerware. American potteries had developed new production methods and, importantly for consumers, the china produced was equal to the wares produced in England.…
Plain Old White Ironstone Bowls – Perfect for Chili
Plain Old White Ironstone Bowls – Perfect for ChiliA good chili bowl should hold chili. A better than good bowl for chili should not be too wide – leave the wide bowl for cereal. A wide bowl holds the contents certainly but the narrower width means that the chili will cool down quicker. Maybe a small…
Ohio River Pottery: Pope-Gosser China
Ohio River Pottery: Pope-Gosser ChinaIn the early twentieth century, Mr. Wells the president of Homer Laughlin China Company appeared before a Congressional Committee on tariffs to plead the case of American Potteries. He argued that foreign wares, particularly German and Japanese imports, were given an unfair advantage in the current laws governing tariffs. One of the…
Ohio River Pottery: Black and White Restaurant China
Call it what you will . . . Retro Diner, Restaurant China or Restaurant Ware. To my eye, these plates look fresh and modern. Black is back but did it ever fade away? The scalloped edge brings a cottage in the country feel. The bold black thick border looks clean and contemporary. Add to a…
Ohio River Pottery: Shadows by John Gilkes for Taylor, Smith & Taylor
The ink was barely dry on his master's thesis when John Gilkes accepted the position of Lead Designer for the Taylor, Smith Taylor Pottery. Gilkes, under the tutelage of Arthur E. Baggs, the renown potter and professor of ceramics at Ohio State University, researched production techniques for new dinnerware shapes. Innovation was paramount to the…
Restaurant Ware: Warwick China Company, Wheeling, West Virginia
Restaurant Ware: Warwick China Company, Wheeling, West VirginiaWarwick China Company enjoyed a long history – over sixty years producing decorative pieces, fine dinnerware and finally, vitrified china. According to their catalog ca. 1940s, they produced “Vitrified China for Hotels, Clubs, Restaurants, Institutions, Steamships, Railroads, and Hospitals.” No doubt, their entry into china production for commercial accounts…
Restaurant Ware: Warwick China Company, Wheeling, West Virginia
The top of plate is equally fascinating . . . this platter produced by Warwick China has double black lines. Not the classic double green line that I admire.
Clay has a life of its own. There are many things it will not do and cannot be made to do. It insists on respect. It records not only the impression we make on it by hand or machine but also something of the saga of our life on this earth.
Royal China and Steubenville Pottery
"Anywhere you dig in Sebring you hit pottery shards. In some places they sit in parking lots or driveways, just waiting to tell us their history."
Table Talk: Christmas Morning
The best thing about Christmas morning is the quiet and the contentment in the air. The stockings so carefully hung are strewn on the floor, paper and ribbon everywhere, sipping hot chocolate with mounds of whipped cream and, of course, a roaring fire! The food we serve on this day differs from family to family based on…