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Looking After Your Discontinued China Patterns |
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In the event that your china is a discontinued china pattern and you need to find replacements, the more information you have about your china, be it a dinner service, tea set or some kind of collectible, the easier it will be. At the very least make a note of the manufacturer of the china, along with the name of the pattern. If the pieces have any additional information such as a pattern number, as is the case with many of the bigger potteries, such as Royal Doulton, Wedgwood and Spode, then make a note of this information as well.
If the china is still in production, contact your local china or department store, or even the pottery themselves and ask them to send you a catalogue.
If you do not know the name of the discontinued china pattern and make, take a photograph of it to file with your records, even if you are not looking to replace anything. Then should the worst happen and you experience a theft, fire or accident that obliterates the entire collection you still have a record of what it looked like.
Many potteries and some department stores operate mailing lists that you can subscribe to, where they will write to you to let you know when the pattern is due to be discontinued. Registering for this service is a good idea as the potteries will often know 6 to 12 months in advance that they plan to discontinue a line, and you then have ample opportunity to make up additional pieces.
If your service is valuable, either financially or sentimentally, contact your insurance company to make sure that it is (a) adequatley insured and (b) whether they will pay to replace discontinued lines or if the policy is strictly new for old. If the china is of such a value or age that the insurance company chooses to list it as a specified item, be sure to shop around for the most competitive quotes. Some insurance companies, for example, provide special policies and household policy extensions for antiques and collectibles. |
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If the collection is a dinner or tea service in every day use, one has to use one's own judgement as to the best way of storing pieces. For example, white and cream stoneware can suffer badly from stacking marks, where a grey/silvery rim appears around the outside of bowls where they sit inside each other. If you feel your service falls into this category seperate them in the stack with paper towels.
Even if the service does not suffer much with this problem, it is still a good idea to follow this practice with the plates and bowls at the bottom of the pile which rarely see the light of day. These are probably tomorrow's spares, so look after them.
China, and in particular tableware, is heavy, and not all modern day kitchen cupboards are up to the job of holding a whole dinner set. Whenever possible, store that china in ground level cupboards. Even if the cupboard floor collapses, it doesn't have so far to fall!! If it is necessary to store the china in a higher cupboard, do what you can to spread the weight, placing the heavier items e.g. a stack of dinner plates or dishes, towards the sides and back of the cupboard where there is greater support.
Sometimes it is necessary to store collections over a longer period, perhaps in the attic, loft or garage. If you do this make sure that the individual pieces are wrapped in bubble wrap and packed securely into a strong box. Maintain at least an inch between the sides, top and bottom of the and the china, by padding it out. Shredded paper, polystyrene chippings, scrunched up newspaper, old rags and bunched bubble wrap all make good padding material. Be sure to place a list of the items contained in each box inside and keep a copy of the list with the rest of your china records (see above). Finally, clearly label the outside of the box as "FRAGILE", along with a description of the contents, e.g. "Grandma's Teaset".
This may sound like a lot of work. But months go by, then years, and before you know it you forget about the box and the next people to touch it are the removal men. Suffice to say that replacement services can attribute a sizable portion of their profits to the butterfingered removal man!! It's worth the effort!
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If you purchased your china from new, most potteries will provide guidelines for cleaning your pottery, sometimes recommending particular dishwasher detergent for example. Be sure to read these guidelines and follow them.
If however you were provided with no such guidelines, of you bought the china second hand, then there are some general rules you should follow.
Gilded china, regardless of whether the gilding is on the edge of the plates or contained within the design, and this includes patterns with gold relief work or embossed gold leaf, should NOT be cleaned in the dishwasher. Incidentally, some potteries claim that some of their gilded china, particularly at the cheaper end of their ranges is dishwasher proof. While the gilding may last longer than china designs of years gone by, my experience is that it will start to wear off long before it's overall life expectancy.
(NB gilded china should not be used in microwaves either, unless you like forked lightening in your kitchen and you have a very understanding local fire department and loss adjustor!)
Some china, both porcelain and pottery, can be subject to cutlery marks. These often manifest themselves as silvery grey marks concentrated in the centre or plates and bowls. Teaspoons often have the same effect on tea cups.
The extent to which you can remove these marks depends on the type of china and glaze your service has. For example, the matt finished Denby designs of the 70's, such as "Troubador" and "Gypsy" are relatively easy to remove marks from. However, the modern day high glaze designs such as "Regency Green" and "Imperial Blue" are very difficult to clean up.
I have tried numerous cleaning solutions over the years, including various oven cleaners, metal polishes, bleaches and bicarbonate of soda solutions, each with varying degrees of success. The best product I have found so far is Astonish Oven & Household Cleaner, sold in the UK through door to door catalogues such as Betterware and Kleeneze, and in the high street through Robert Dyas and a few independent hardware stalls.
If you have discovered your own solutions, or have found alternative products in your own countries, please share your discoveries with other users in the Discontinued-China.Net Forum.
Another common problem not always cleaned up in the washing up is the brown staining in tea cups and teapots. This staining is caused by a tea residue called tannin. For this we have found an excellent product called Teapot's Best Friend, retailed by Green-Way Services. It comes in a powder form and
is guaranteed to be free of the smell and taste problems associated with other cleaners. It is non-toxic and requires no scrubbing.
One final tip under cleaning. If you hand wash your china, invest in a rubber nozzle to place over the taps on your sink. Taps are often responsible for a chipped teapot spout or a missing cup handle.
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If you have china in your house, and most people do, it is almost inevitable that you will have a breakage sooner or later. If the item or range is discontinued and you wish to replace one or more china pieces, I am happy to say that these days, all is not lost, and there are a number of avenues you can pursue. I will come on to these shortly.
First though a couple or precautionary tips.
If the broken item is the only item you have in a given design, keep some of the broken pieces and/or take a photograph of what is left. All too often people throw away breakages, only to find that they have nothing to identify the pattern with when they come to replace it.
If you break a teapot, casserole, or anything else with a lid and the lid remains intact - KEEP IT. Spare lids are notoriously difficult to replace and it is sometimes easier to find a lidless base than it is a complete piece on the discontinued china market. You may also save yourself some money in the process.
Similarly, should you break a salt or pepper pot, keep the stopper (closure) as these are usually difficult to get hold of, and again, you may find a replacement piece that doesn't have a stopper. Should you need spare or replacement stoppers, or seals for storage jars, we recommend trying Poole Pottery Replacements as they stock some of the most common sizes used. |
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If you are seeking replacements or simply wishing to add additional pieces to your collection of discontinued china, be it tableware or collectibles, there are a number of sources you can go to. This is really what Discontinued-China.Net is all about; bringing as many of these sources as possible into one place, thereby giving you both information and choice.
The first step is to ensure that the pattern is actually discontinued. If you believe it has only recently been discontinued, or have simply been told by your local department store or china specialist that they are no longer selling it, it is possible that you may still be able to purchase a few remaining NEW items.
While traditional retail outlets often stop selling lines before the official discontinuation date, to make room for new ranges on their shelves, this is not usually the case with online stores. For example, Small Island Trader - The Web's China Shop, who place customer satisfaction high on their list of priorities, often stock china right up to the point where they simply can't order any more from the pottery. So we would recommend them as your first port of call. Once you have established that your china is discontinued, you may decide to try and find your replacement dishes yourself on the second hand market. This is invariably the cheapest option but a certain degree of patience is required depending on the scarcity of your particular set.
If this is the route you choose to follow you would do well to pay regular visits to your local antiques and collectible fairs, flea markets and car boot sales (trash and treasure sales - Australia, yard sales - US/Canada). If you are based in the UK and want to find out what car boot sales are on in your local area, you may like to try our sister site www.carbootjunction.com.
Alternatively, you could advertise that you are looking for particular pieces or a specific design. Many papers and collectible magazines have classified advertisement space where you can let others know what you are looking for (don't forget to check that there isn't someone already selling it!). Furthermore, through this site we are bringing you the modern day equivalent of that advertising space; AND IT'S FREE. Take a look at our Discontinued-China.Net Forum. Through our extensive message boards you can buy, sell and swap with dealers, private buyers and sellers, and replacement services. It costs nothing to register, registration takes less than a minute, and the forum incorporates email encryption and a private messaging system, so you won't be bothered by tiresome junk mail or unwanted approaches from non registered users.
Another option is to look for discontinued china patterns on eBay.co.uk , the worlds largest online marketplace for second hand goods. In actual fact, we have already done much of the hard work for you in this respect. If you visit our Reference Library & Galleries of Discontinued China Patterns and locate your pattern you will see a list of pieces currently available for purchase on eBay in your design.
Alternatively, you may decide to to let other people do all the running around for you. China matching and replacement services first started to appear in the early 1980s. They all work in slightly different ways sourcing their stock from a great variety of places, but the basic idea is that they record your details, and the details of the pieces and designs you are seeking e.g. Mrs A N Other Tel 01234 567 8910 seeking 3 x dinner plates in Royal Doulton "Carlyle". Sometimes they will have the china you are looking for in stock, but if they don't they keep the information on file and contact you when the items become available.
This is a highly specialist service and so a higher price tag will accompany the china they match for you, than if you were to buy it from, say, a car boot sale. However, the advantage is that you stand a much better chance or finding your replacements, and a lot quicker, than when looking on your own.
China matching and replacement services are quite common place now, particularly in the US and the UK. Some specialise in particular potteries, some in a particular period e.g. fifties china, and a few have developed into general matching services, sometimes even including glassware and cutlery. Again, at Discontinued-China.Net we are doing what we can to bring you the information relevant to your china. By encouraging the replacement services to promote their services through our site, in our galleries you will find for each pattern a list of china matching and replacement services who regularly buy and sell your specific pattern.
If you find that your discontinued china is a design which no one seems to stock, and appears to be difficult to get hold of, we recommend registering your details with as many of the replacement services who deal with that pottery as possible. None of the reputable replacement services will charge you to register your details. Nor will they take registration as a commitment to buy. By registering you are simply telling them that you would like to find those pieces, you are not actually placing an order. After all, you might find the pieces yourself in the meantime! |
| GOOD HUNTING!! |
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