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Cowan's
Corner
Collectors Gobble Up Thanksgiving Tableware
By Wes Cowan
Prior to the mid-1800s, Thanksgiving had nothing to do with the 1621 harvest
celebration at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, Pilgrims or Native
Americans. Thanksgiving started as a traditional New England holiday that
celebrated family and community, descending from Puritan days of fasting and
festive rejoicing. The government of each colony or state declared a day of
thanksgiving each autumn, to give thanks for general blessings.
The
Massachusetts government abolished the state's April Fast Day in 1894, and its
annual Thanksgiving Day, held on the last Thursday of November, was absorbed by
the national Thanksgiving Day established by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863,
making it the first nationally declared Thanksgiving Day for the United States,
a holiday still observed on the fourth Thursday of each November. And, as New
Englanders moved west in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, they took their
holiday with them.
Enter the Victorians, who outfitted their tables with a
bewildering array of utensils and tableware, with shapes and decorations to
enhance every item of food. Research indicates that tableware manufactured to be
used when turkey was the main meat course, appeared late in the 19th century,
made primarily by British manufacturers of pottery and porcelain such as Adams,
Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Cauldon, and Copeland, and intended primarily for the
American market.
American manufacturers, including LaBelle & Oliver
China, both located in the Ohio Valley, offered wares with a similar theme. A
majority of this china was "flow blue" or underglaze cobalt transfer printed,
with decorative and romanticized scenes of early Ccolonials, turkeys, or game
birds as the central motif, with the turkey motifs appearing primarily on dinner
plates and platters to coordinate with larger matching table
services.
Wedgwood, quick to capitalize on the popularity of Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow's 1847 romantic poem "Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie", produced a
design showing Evangeline in period garb against a background of other Ccolonial
figures and structures, including a line from the poem, "Down the Long Street
She Passed." Tableware with plump turkey gobblers, or wild turkeys in a woodland
setting, appeared to grace the holiday table, with many patterns appearing in
the early 20th century when the Colonial Revival was in vogue.
Among the
better known Victorian patterns are Cauldon's "Turkey", circa 1905-1920;
Ridgways "Turkey," ca 1891-1920; Wm. Adams & Co.'s "Gamebirds," with one of
the most popular "turkey" pattern being Wedgwood & Co.'s "Clytie," circa
1908. This pattern is available with and without the central turkey motif on
plates and platters, with a unifying floral border on the balance of the
tableware. Copeland produced in circa 1899 a series with various Pilgrim scenes
on dinner plates, and also a complimentary platter with matching gadroon border
and a magnificent tom turkey in the center. LaBelle China, (1887-1903),
Wheeling, West Virginia, produced a turkey pattern with plates (six different
turkey designs) and platters, both in blue transfer printed and a different
central polychrome transfer printed design. Oliver China of Sebring, Ohio
(1899-1909), produced china using a nearly identical printed decal
design.
Thanksgiving Tableware Today
Much of the tableware with a turkey
motif available today appeared from the 1930s through the 1950s in both various
colors and polychrome transfer, with much continuing in production into the
1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Enoch Wood and Sons produced their "English Scenery"
dinnerware cairca 1930 with a turkey central motif on plates and platters in
blue, red, brown, polychrome and blue multi-color, probably to coordinate with
their dinnerware of the same name. The prolific Johnson Brothers produced
several patterns with turkey themes, including "Gamebirds," (1959-1982); "His
Majesty" (1959-1996 and currently being reproduced); "Wild Turkeys-Native
American", "Wild Turkeys-Flying", "Wild Turkey-Woodland," (all 1951-1974), and
"Barnyard King," (1950-1970). Clarice Cliff produced two patterns featuring a
turkey, one with the "Tonquin" border with the Oriental center scene removed and
replaced with a turkey, available in all the "Tonquin" colors.
Acquisition of
the more popular English flow blue tableware with turkey motifs requires
patience and a serious financial commitment. Large platters in pristine
condition may cost over $1,000, and matching plates can cost $50-100+ each or
more depending on condition, pattern, and manufacturer. The American-made
counterparts are, however, available for considerably less, with LaBelle China
dinner plates recently selling on the Internet for between $25- to $40 each.
Most of the 20th century patterns are readily available to the collector,
and while not inexpensive, are priced such that dinner services can be
assembled, with a large selection available on the Internet. Platters may range
from $150- to $400 and up, depending on size and condition, with plates from
$25- to $75+ each as evidenced in recent Internet sales. Pricing is, as might be
expected, seasonal, with the highest prices seen in shops and on the Internet in
the weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tableware replacement companies are
helpful in locating specific pieces, and web sites such as
www.staffordshiregarden.com specialize in information regarding availability of
many patterns.
Once acquired, holiday tableware featuring Benjamin
Franklin's choice of the national bird, the Wild Turkey, should be enjoyed and
used with care, always being mindful of the origins and meaning of
Thanksgiving.
 About the Author: Wes Cowan is founder and owner
of Cowan's Auctions, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. An internationally recognized
expert in historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series History
Detectives and is a featured appraiser on the Antiques Roadshow. He can be
reached via email at info@cowanauctions.com. Article research by Mimi
Morgan.
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A multi-color single dinner
plate from Enoch Wood & Sons (English);
"English Scenery,"
ca. 1930s.
Cauldon (English), "Turkey,"
flow blue single
dinner plate.
This flow blue Copeland
turkey platter, measuring
26" x 20", sold in 2004 for
$862.50.
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