Today we are celebrating Thanksgiving as always, but this year I'm
taking a break from cooking the huge meal and we will be eating out.
Tomorrow, still stuffed from the traditional holiday delicacies, we'll head
to the North Carolina coast for the weekend. With pleasant weather
expected, we'll dress warmly and walk the beach, stroll the old boardwalk,
eat fresh from the ocean seafood, and join in the annual start
to the busy Christmas season - beach style.
I love this delicate china, in a rich brown transferware pattern named
Petunia, from Johnson Brothers. Beside petunias there are fuchsia, dianthus,
and sprigs of other dainty British garden flowers.
From what I've discerned online, Petunia was perhaps one of their first patterns
and produced around 1885. At present, there seem to be very few pieces
available to collectors here in the USA. The four Johnson brothers
bought their grandfather's business, the famous Meakin china factory in
Stoke-On-Trent, England, in 1882, and launched themselves into the dinnerware
business, producing sturdy whiteware with glaze as fine as that on good porcelains.
Following WWI, the company also began producing dinnerware that was a solid color
throughout so that chips didn't show as badly. Business boomed to such an extent
that by 1900, an additional five factories opened in England and brother Robert Johnson
moved to the USA to handle the trans-Atlantic sales.
Johnson Brothers china company joined the Wedgwood Group in 1968 and,
sadly, by 2003 all manufacturing operations were moved to China.
I own just two pieces of Petunia, one a dinner plate, the other a side plate.
In fact I've never really made an effort to collect brown transferware, my little stash
consists mostly of some antique blue, grey and black patterns.
So, if you enjoy the lovely brown designs you must take a look HERE where
blog friend Loi, at the beautiful blog Tone On Tone, is displaying his fabulous collection
of transferware - including an unusual shaped platter in the Petunia pattern.
Loi is a Washington, DC antiques dealer, shop owner, designer,
gardener, grower of topiaries, and photographer extraordinaire.
I can honestly say I have never not fallen in love with anything Loi has shared
on his wonderful blog.
If you've not visited Tone On Tone yet, do so soon. I promise you will love it.
So dear friends, whether eating your holiday meal on priceless antiques,
your every day china, or even paper plates, enjoy and be thankful.
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