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Vintage Restaurant Ware
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Restaurant ware, also called hotel china, refers to plates and bowls, cups and saucers, and smaller items such as creamers and monkey dishes that were made especially for use in commercial settings. Potteries such as Buffalo, Jackson, Shenango,...
Restaurant ware, also called hotel china, refers to plates and bowls, cups and saucers, and smaller items such as creamers and monkey dishes that were made especially for use in commercial settings. Potteries such as Buffalo, Jackson, Shenango, Wallace, Syracuse, Tepco, and Homer Laughlin are some of the best known manufacturers of restaurant ware, which is generally heavier than dinnerware produced for the home. Some of the most collected types of restaurant ware include airbrushed pieces, Western and floral themes (wagon wheels and palm trees are equally popular), and plates bearing an establishment’s logo.
In the United States, the proliferation of restaurant ware paralleled that of railroad china, both of which became widespread in the second half of the 19th century, thanks to the efforts of entrepreneurs like George Pullman and Fred Harvey. It was a time when railroads tied the nation together, knotted here and there by growing cities and luxurious stopovers. Guests staying at, or merely dining in, the hotels that catered to this new cohort of domestic travelers were often treated like royalty, to encourage these early adopters, as we might call them today, to spread the word.
One of the earliest companies to make dinnerware for the growing hospitality industry was the Syracuse China Company. Founded in 1871, Syracuse introduced a new line of heavy, chip-resistant dinnerware called Round Edge in 1896. For its part, Shenango Pottery produced nothing but commercial china from 1909 until 1935.
Around the same time, in 1932, the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad hired Buffalo Pottery Company to make a special set of china in honor of George Washington’s 200th birthday. Sporting lavish gold rims, the plates in the set featured a reproduction of Gilbert Stuart’s “Athenaeum” portrait of George Washington in their centers. Reportedly, each large service plate, which Buffalo sold to the C&O for $66 per dozen, had $5 worth of gold in them, which means Buffalo probably took a hefty a loss on its Washington project. In fact, the railroad sold these same service plates to its customers for only $5, suggesting that the economics of the dinnerware was less important to both companies than the prestige of having the names of both the pottery and railroad associated with Washington’s. For Buffalo, the gamble apparently paid off, as it was soon producing custom china for the Greenbriar Hotel in West Virginia, fighter Jack Dempsey’s restaurant in New York City, The Awahnee in Yosemite National Park, and the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
Less highfalutin is the restaurant ware made by companies like Anchor Hocking, which produced its glass Fire-King line from 1948 until 1967 for restaurants, schools, and the U.S. military. Fire-King brands included a green Jadeite, blue Azurite, and an opaque white ware called Anchorwhite.
Homer Laughlin got a slightly later start in restaurant ware (1959), while Red Wing did not introduce its hotel line until the 1960s. Like its competitors, Red Wing manufactured everything from salt and pepper shakers to gravy boats, as well as special lobster dishes, single-service teapots, and ashtrays.
And then there was Tepco, which was established in Livermore, California, in 1918 by an Italian immigrant named John Pagliero, but is probably best known for the commercial china it produced after World War II. When Pagliero first set up shop in his backyard, he pressed and fired all his porcelain himself, but by 1947, Tepco—the shortened nickname for the company’s cumbersome, official name, the Technical Porcelain and China Ware Company—offered more than 50 lines, from airbrushed pieces to transferware. Tepco’s plates, bowls, coffee cups, and pitchers were heavy and thick, with large flat rims that lent themselves to patterns and decorations.
Interestingly, and despite its founder’s Italian roots, many of Tepco’s most popular designs were Western in nature, with names like Wagon Wheel and Ox-Head. Themes from California history, from the Spanish Missions to the Gold Rush, also filled the Tepco catalog, while the company also trafficked in appropriated styles that looked right at home in postwar tiki bars—Trader Vics commissioned numerous oversized mugs and goblets for its famous rum drinks. By 1968, though, John Pagliero had died at the age of 85, and the company he founded went out of business as plastic dinnerware like Melamine became increasingly popular.
Continue readingRestaurant ware, also called hotel china, refers to plates and bowls, cups and saucers, and smaller items such as creamers and monkey dishes that were made especially for use in commercial settings. Potteries such as Buffalo, Jackson, Shenango, Wallace, Syracuse, Tepco, and Homer Laughlin are some of the best known manufacturers of restaurant ware, which is generally heavier than dinnerware produced for the home. Some of the most collected types of restaurant ware include airbrushed pieces, Western and floral themes (wagon wheels and palm trees are equally popular), and plates bearing an establishment’s logo.
In the United States, the proliferation of restaurant ware paralleled that of railroad china, both of which became widespread in the second half of the 19th century, thanks to the efforts of entrepreneurs like George Pullman and Fred Harvey. It was a time when railroads tied the nation together, knotted here and there by growing cities and luxurious stopovers. Guests staying at, or merely dining in, the hotels that catered to this new cohort of domestic travelers were often treated like royalty, to encourage these early adopters, as we might call them today, to spread the word.
One of the earliest companies to make dinnerware for the growing hospitality industry was the Syracuse China Company. Founded in 1871, Syracuse introduced a new line of heavy, chip-resistant dinnerware called Round Edge in 1896. For its part, Shenango Pottery produced nothing but commercial china from 1909 until 1935.
Around the same time, in 1932, the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad hired Buffalo Pottery Company to make a special set of china in honor of George Washington’s 200th birthday. Sporting lavish gold rims, the plates in the set featured a reproduction of Gilbert Stuart’s “Athenaeum” portrait of George Washington in their centers. Reportedly, each large service plate, which Buffalo sold to the C&O for $66 per dozen, had $5 worth of gold in them, which means...
Restaurant ware, also called hotel china, refers to plates and bowls, cups and saucers, and smaller items such as creamers and monkey dishes that were made especially for use in commercial settings. Potteries such as Buffalo, Jackson, Shenango, Wallace, Syracuse, Tepco, and Homer Laughlin are some of the best known manufacturers of restaurant ware, which is generally heavier than dinnerware produced for the home. Some of the most collected types of restaurant ware include airbrushed pieces, Western and floral themes (wagon wheels and palm trees are equally popular), and plates bearing an establishment’s logo.
In the United States, the proliferation of restaurant ware paralleled that of railroad china, both of which became widespread in the second half of the 19th century, thanks to the efforts of entrepreneurs like George Pullman and Fred Harvey. It was a time when railroads tied the nation together, knotted here and there by growing cities and luxurious stopovers. Guests staying at, or merely dining in, the hotels that catered to this new cohort of domestic travelers were often treated like royalty, to encourage these early adopters, as we might call them today, to spread the word.
One of the earliest companies to make dinnerware for the growing hospitality industry was the Syracuse China Company. Founded in 1871, Syracuse introduced a new line of heavy, chip-resistant dinnerware called Round Edge in 1896. For its part, Shenango Pottery produced nothing but commercial china from 1909 until 1935.
Around the same time, in 1932, the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad hired Buffalo Pottery Company to make a special set of china in honor of George Washington’s 200th birthday. Sporting lavish gold rims, the plates in the set featured a reproduction of Gilbert Stuart’s “Athenaeum” portrait of George Washington in their centers. Reportedly, each large service plate, which Buffalo sold to the C&O for $66 per dozen, had $5 worth of gold in them, which means Buffalo probably took a hefty a loss on its Washington project. In fact, the railroad sold these same service plates to its customers for only $5, suggesting that the economics of the dinnerware was less important to both companies than the prestige of having the names of both the pottery and railroad associated with Washington’s. For Buffalo, the gamble apparently paid off, as it was soon producing custom china for the Greenbriar Hotel in West Virginia, fighter Jack Dempsey’s restaurant in New York City, The Awahnee in Yosemite National Park, and the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
Less highfalutin is the restaurant ware made by companies like Anchor Hocking, which produced its glass Fire-King line from 1948 until 1967 for restaurants, schools, and the U.S. military. Fire-King brands included a green Jadeite, blue Azurite, and an opaque white ware called Anchorwhite.
Homer Laughlin got a slightly later start in restaurant ware (1959), while Red Wing did not introduce its hotel line until the 1960s. Like its competitors, Red Wing manufactured everything from salt and pepper shakers to gravy boats, as well as special lobster dishes, single-service teapots, and ashtrays.
And then there was Tepco, which was established in Livermore, California, in 1918 by an Italian immigrant named John Pagliero, but is probably best known for the commercial china it produced after World War II. When Pagliero first set up shop in his backyard, he pressed and fired all his porcelain himself, but by 1947, Tepco—the shortened nickname for the company’s cumbersome, official name, the Technical Porcelain and China Ware Company—offered more than 50 lines, from airbrushed pieces to transferware. Tepco’s plates, bowls, coffee cups, and pitchers were heavy and thick, with large flat rims that lent themselves to patterns and decorations.
Interestingly, and despite its founder’s Italian roots, many of Tepco’s most popular designs were Western in nature, with names like Wagon Wheel and Ox-Head. Themes from California history, from the Spanish Missions to the Gold Rush, also filled the Tepco catalog, while the company also trafficked in appropriated styles that looked right at home in postwar tiki bars—Trader Vics commissioned numerous oversized mugs and goblets for its famous rum drinks. By 1968, though, John Pagliero had died at the age of 85, and the company he founded went out of business as plastic dinnerware like Melamine became increasingly popular.
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