Herban Sprawl

I recently learned that two days after a stunning victory for America, the Royal Worcester-Spode china company filed for bankruptcy in Britain. What a sad, sad situation. The reason cited was a shift in peoples’ taste in china and cheap foreign competition.

Indeed, the recent offerings of Spode Christmas Tree have been made in Malaysia and China, which irked me. The pictures on the plates are decidedly different, with a muddier and darker look to them.

As I consider the way china has changed over the years, I must say there have been no patterns in recent history that were as beautiful as those manufactured years ago. Not only were the designs stronger, but the colors were magnificent. To quote the late Jane Mills, china maven for the C.A. Jensen Jewelers store in the old hometown, “These days it’s all begun to look like parsonage china.”  This was in reference to my 20 years ago choice of a very colorful pattern from Wedgwood that was manufactured for the Colonial Williamsburg trade.

My darling niece selected a rather plain pattern – French – with the au courant platinum banding. It’s very pretty, but very unassuming, as well. I like it, actually, because it has lovely lines. I had also liked a plain white French pattern, but Dad was traveling to England and Dad liked to buy china, so I chose English china. Not a hardship for me, by any stretch, but it really was hard to find a pattern that I thought wouldn’t go extinct right away.

This is an issue brought about by the less expensive china manufacturers. Instead of creating a pattern that would be around for a long time, enabling someone to collect the myriads of pieces, bit by bit, they would manufacture only certain pieces and then abandon the design in a year or two. The English companies had never done that, but in order to compete, they had to begin weeding out their styles. It was a tragedy. Truly beautiful patterns were cast aside in favor of namby-pamby parsonage china that resembled the cheap stuff from Asia. No wonder those companies have suffered.

To make matters worse, the stalwart proponents of fine tableware, Gourmet and Bon Appetit, quit having lots and lots of china and silver ads to tempt us. Gone was the Gourmet centerfold dinner – I looked forward to that with the same anticipation my male counterparts did to the Playboy centerfold! It was all about the table! Even Southern Living fell down on the job.

If you wonder whether those old patterns are worth having, consider the fact that Replacements is a multi-million dollar business, even in a recession. They just don’t make china that pretty anymore.

So the Royal Worcester-Spode people are hoping there will be a buyer. So am I. So am I.