May, IgII 
A platter with a medallion of Jefferson, Washington, Lafayette and 
Clinton. English view in center. Erie Canal at bottom 
1899 by Dodd, Mead & Co. This book contains photo- 
graphic reproductions in color of blue plates and platters 
which give one an exact idea of how these pieces look. It 
is a great help to a collector to have in his mind a picture 
of a piece he is trying to secure. 
A collection of historical china in addition to the Ameri- 
can views, usually includes pieces showing the arms of 
twelve of the thirteen original states, the so-called Dr. 
Syntax plates and platters, the plates showing the Wilkie 
designs, and the Don Quixote set. Some people include in 
their collections the English views, but these pieces are not 
rare and possess but little interest for the connoisseur. 
Mr. Edwin Atlee Barber, secretary of the Pennsylvania 
Museum and School of Industrial Art, in Philadelphia, pub- 
lished a book in rgor called “Anglo-American Pottery.” 
Mr. Barber’s book is profusely illustrated and it is one 
which a collector cannot afford to be without. It is full of 
interesting information and is one of the chief sources from 
which a collector draws his elementary knowledge prior to 
collecting. In the back part of Mr. Barber’s book is a di- 
rectory of collectors, which gives one the names and ad- 
dresses of many people who are interested in this kind of 
china. There are also advertisements in the back of the 
book which a collector will find of value. 
One of the purposes of this article is to talk in an in- 
formal way about some interesting specimens of this blue 
china, and to give collectors some little idea of the relative 
CAP APR eee ese reel 
= 
* 
. 
2 
7 
os 
7 
+ 
* 
« 
- 
ry 
7 
7 
2 
° 
J 
s 
@ 
a 
fe 
° 
Vegetable dish—‘‘Dr. Syntax Sells Griggles’’ 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
175 
values of different pieces. he subject of values is a diff- 
cult one. I have known plates to sell ten years ago for 
$75 each, which can be bought to-day for $8 or $10; and 
plates and platters of that time sold at $100, which now 
can not be had for $1,000. I have had a platter offered 
and sold to me by an out-of-town dealer for $50 when a 
platter of the same design was being offered for sale at a 
New York antique store for $250. This will show how 
erratic the china market is, and how very necessary it is to 
become well informed as to values before venturing to 
make purchases entirely cn one’s own judgment. 
The potters of Staffordshire, England, had the commer- 
cial instinct highly developed. There was in America an 
intensely bitter feeling toward England and everything 
which was manufactured there. The effects of the Revolu- 
tionary War had not subsided when the War of 1812 broke 
out, and about the year 1820, when the Staffordshire pot- 
teries commenced to decorate their ware with American 
views the attitude of Americans toward British goods was 
extremely hostile. Notwithstanding this fact, English 
artists were sent over to America by the Staffordshire pot- 
A platter showing ‘““The Errand Boy,” one of the Wilkie series 
ters with instructions to make sketches of American scenes, 
American buildings, and some of the prominent American 
cities. “These sketches and paintings were afterward put in 
the hands of engravers, who reproduced them on copper 
plates, and then the process of transferring these copper 
plate engravings to the china was introduced. When we 
look over the views which these English artists made, we 
are amused at their choice of subjects. “They might have 
done a great deal better had they been more thoroughly 
familiar with: our country, and it may be said also that they 
could have done far worse than they did. They made 
sketches of some of the Harvard buildings, also Columbia, 
but they entirely overlooked Yale and Princeton Univer- 
sities. They made sketches of seven American churches 
and by good luck they made a very representative selection. 
They favored the cities of New York, Boston, Baltimore 
and Philadelphia, making a larger number of sketches in 
these than they did elsewhere, which was quite proper. 
They made a flying trip through the Middle West, in their 
search for important cities, and made sketches of Detroit, 
Louisville, Sandusky, Columbus and one or two other 
towns. In their search for scenery they favored the Hud- 
son River and the Erie Canal. 
