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 | | From: | Cathy | | Subject: | Thanks | | Date: | Tue, 11 Jan 2005 14:22:02 GMT |
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 | Thank you Simon for your reply regarding the silver teapot.It is the first
time I have used a newsgroup and was not sure if I would get a reply. So
thank you :))
Cathy
And also to John for suggesting Google, although I did try that but could
not find a link that seemed to help but maybe I typed the wrong query.
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| | From: | John Yamamoto-Wilson | | Subject: | Re: Thanks | | Date: | Wed, 12 Jan 2005 21:12:38 +0900 |
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| Cathy wrote:
> And also to John for suggesting Google, although I did try that but could
> not find a link that seemed to help but maybe I typed the wrong query.
I didn't look closely at the sites that came up. Some of them mention the
so-called "crusader's plate". For example:
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Until lately, all the books on Oriental porcelain used to tell us that the
earliest piece of porcelain to come to Europe was preserved in the Green
Vaults at Dresden. It is a little plate " inlaid with garnets cut into
facettes," and " was brought back from the East by a Crusader" (so the
legend went). But " I am afraid that this must go the way of so many similar
stories," writes Mr. Edward Dillon. He goes on: " I have had an opportunity
of examining this often-quoted example of early Chinese porcelain, as well
as a cup similarly inlaid in the same collection, and I quite agree with Dr.
Zimmerman, the curator of the museum, that the setting can hardly be earlier
than the sixteenth century."
(http://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/article1249.shtml; from an article
first published in 1913)
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The following website features something called "Crusader Plate" porcelain
(no, I'd never heard of it either, but then porcelain's not my thing!):
http://www.americanrails.com/amrails/amrails_060.htm
And there's an "R. C. Co. Crusader Plate Citrus Spoon" (silver-plated)
featured on about 20 web pages on ten different websites. For example:
http://www.kaleden.com/detail,silver-plate-citrus,661480.html
Just goes to show the lengths people will go to to sell a three-dollar item!
Another tack is to take a look and see what's going on eBay. I found the
following:
- a teapot
- a coffee pot
- a tray
- a silverware lot
http://tinyurl.com/5pap8
The first three items are in Australia - all being offered by different
sellers. That got me looking back at something I noticed when Googling:
"...Mr Handley, a teacher at Melbourne High School and founding director of
the company, Crusader Plate, had graduated in science from [Melbourne]
University at the turn of the century."
(http://tinyurl.com/5js7e)
So what I learned from all that was:
- In the early 20th century there was a belief that a certain plate, called
the "crusader's plate", was the oldest piece of porcelain in the West.
- At that time, in Australia, a man called Handley founded a company called
Crusader Plate.
- There are several pieces of silver-plated ware currently on eBay. Most are
being sold by sellers from Australia.
And, mirabile dictur, you have a silver-platedteapot (nickel silver,
according to Simon) and an Australian e-mail address.
The Crusader Plate porcelain doesn't seem to fit, and may be a red herring,
but the rest of it is a bit like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. OK, the
eBay pieces have starting prices of between 5 and 15 Australian dollars, so
you won't be laying up a nest egg for your retirement with this piece, but
you do have a pretty fair idea now of what it is you've got.
I hope you will collect more bits and pieces and do more sleuthing. Even
finding out about a piece like this is grist to the mill (honing your
talents and instincts and all that), and one day you may stumble on
something really inspiring!
--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com
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