You can probably ascertain that I love collecting dinnerware and kitchen ware! (Not to mention brick-a-brack, antiques, books, and other things!) My love of dinnerware started when I was a child, and when I decided I wanted a collection, of course the biggest question was what to collect? Should I stay with only one pattern? One manufacturer? One theme? One color? One style? My style is rather eclectic and I didn't want to be devoted to only one pattern, manufacturer, theme or color. So, that meant I would need to figure out what I wanted, but one thing was for certain: I wanted pieces from parts of the world where the best dinnerware was made. To me, that meant china from Germany (preferably Bavaria), England, Japan (preferably marked Nippon), the United States, and France (preferably Limoges). It was relatively easy to get dinnerware from Bavaria, England and the United States, and in complete sets. However, the Nippon and Limoges dinnerware I wanted eluded me, until two lucky finds at the local thrift store helped make those goals a reality!
I found ten Nippon dinner plates and a covered vegetable bowl at the thrift store, so of course I snatched those up right away. They have become a "work horse" of my dinnerware collection. I will discuss those more in detail in a later posting. The Limoges, however, was something I never thought I would find. But, one day on a visit to the same thrift store, there they were, heaped in a shopping cart with the price tag on them. I grabbed the cart and told the sales lady, BJ, that these were sold! BJ and I had gotten to know each other well over the years, and all she did was laugh and said "I knew you would get those!"
There were a lot of pieces in that shopping cart: nine dinner plates, nine salad plates, six bread and butter plates, one saucer, one large platter, one small platter, one oval covered vegetable bowl, one round covered vegetable bowl, one square serving bowl, one covered sugar bowl and a pair of bullet shaped salt and pepper shakers. The pattern is yellow roses with little periwinkle blue/lavender flowers, with bright green foliage on white porcelain with gold trim. The set dates to probably the early 1900s.
I have used this set frequently-for Easter, on display in my house museum, for Sunday dinners. The colors lend themselves well with other dinnerware, such as like-color Fiesta and Depression glass yellows/amber and green. I wish I had dinnerware in that beautiful periwinkle blue/lavender color, though! Wouldn't that be lovely?
Some of the pieces are marked Limoges, others Haviland, and others still with nothing at all.
For this setting, I used Fiesta P86 Yellow salad plates (Bon Marche, Great Falls, Montana, sadly out of business) to go along with the Limoges dinner and bread and butter plates. Great Grandma Mayer's Coronation silver plated flatware goes well with the Limoges. Happiness is...adding pieces to your collection, and the butter spreaders and sugar tongs in Coronation were finds on eBay. The stemware is pure French-Longchamp by Cristal d'Arques (various places). The table cloth and napkins are Meadow Butterfly in Pistachio, sold at Bed, Bath and Beyond. The centerpiece is simple, using my Westmoreland centerpiece set comprising of a banana boat and matching candlestick holders in the Ring and Petal pattern (thrift store), flanked by Waterford Celebration votives (Cash's of Ireland) doubling as vases to hold the last of the season's yellow roses.
On the Pepin Sideboard rests the dessert and tea service. Antique yellow lustre plates (thrift store) were used for the dessert. Noritake's Linton cups and saucers (thrift store) were used for tea, in place for the missing Limoges cups and saucers. I paired the Limoges covered sugar bowl with Fiesta P86 Yellow creamer and figure 8 tray (J. C. Penney catalog) and I think they look pretty good together! A pure white teapot from Pier 1 Imports rounds out the service. (I'm so going to miss Pier 1 Imports!) A large Fiesta P86 Yellow disc pitcher serves the water. On the other side is a Fiesta Dancing Lady logo, and it came with four tumblers from the J. C. Penney catalog. The little lone Limoges saucer held extra Nicoise olives.
On the menu:
Hard Boiled Egg, Nicoise Olives and Buttered Radishes
Nicoise Salad
Poulet Saute a la Bourdelaise (sautéed chicken with Shallots and Artichoke Hearts, recipe from Foods of the World: The Cooking of Provincial France)
Macerated Berries in a little sugar and Grand Marnier liqueur, berries and juices served over pound cake.
