h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know you collect such things, I have a set of four divided delft dinner plates they go back to my Grandmother, probably mid 1930's or so. The maker's mark Says 'Blue Willow Royal Sebring, Ohio' - One says 'Willow Ware by Royal China' the patterns look identical. I know they are not of any great value, but I was curious if you knew anything about them.

F S

here's what I was able to find about Royal Sebring:
http://www.sebringohiohistoricalsociety.org/RoyalChina.html

items in this pattern sometimes sell on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xsebring+willow.TRS0&_nkw=sebring+willow&_sacat=0

Also, you might want to check your pattern against this in replacements.com, the china-matching service:
http://www.replacements.com/webquote/rylblw.htm

Thank you paulh for your reply, I found it quite interesting. I will leave this for you as a thank you.

My grandmother was of German decent, and about once a month she would set out a huge evening meal for the family. She would serve it on her good 'Blue Willow China', she had a complete table service including a 3 tiered service tray with a center metal pole that screwed through a hole in each plate. It was usually disassembled for storage and she did not use it at every meal.

I had an uncle who was a big man and worked in one of the steel mills. One of his greatest pleasures was to fill his plate with all the different food dishes and cover them all in ketchup before starting to eat.

One evening after he filled his plate and without applying the tomato sauce he started to eat it all plain. When somebody asked him why he had not put on his ketchup, he sadly replied 'I can't' He then showed us his plate with the hole in the middle. 'I would just run out and spoil the table cloth'.

My grandmother then realized that she had accidentally given him the bottom layer of the serving tray. She gave him a new plate without the hole so he could fix his meal properly. I am not sure if the pattern matched, but he was happy.

This is the kind of stuff you just can't make up.

F S

The Blue Willow pattern was pioneered by Spode in the late 1700s. Imitation being the the sincerest form of flattery, scores of other chinamakers produced their own versions of the pattern. Blue Willow is still popular.