Antique Haviland Limoges - Meadow Visitors - Revisited

Holly Lane Antiques recently purchased a life long collection of the very special Meadow Visitors Pattern of Antique Haviland Limoges china.

The Meadow Visitors pattern is an exquisite pattern and difficult to find. This early and unique pattern of Haviland dates to 1876 - 1899 and has been identified by Arlene Schleiger as #1155. Each piece of Haviland Meadow Visitors features different grasses, flowers, birds and butterflies and is highlighted with hand touched enamel accents.

We are always excited to see the unique and various combinations of butterflies and birds placed so creatively on this china. However, we were surprised to become aware of the variety of blanks that were used with this pattern.

In an earlier post several plates were pictured on the smooth blank to emphasize the uniqueness of the pattern on each plate.







In this collection we also found this pattern on the Osier Blank #211 with an embossed basketweave border, the napkin fold blank #1118 and the gently scalloped blank #4.






















Edge trim on the smooth blank can vary from gold to a variety of colors.














































This rare covered tureen with 4 corner handles is wonderful with its ridged blank.



And this ice cream dish has a blank reminiscent of a shell.



The Haviland china decorators were also very creative combining the Meadow Visitors butterflies with fruit and other flowers and also using color in backgrounds and borders.









Click on the pictures to be taken directly to the store pages and for more details.

Click on the banner below to visit Holly Lane Antiques Internet Store where this beautiful Antique Haviland china is available for purchase.

Blue And White At SoWa Antiques Market

Holly Lane Antiques returned for a second Sunday at the SoWa Antiques Market in Boston's South End.

This week Blue and White was featured with a combination of our White Ironstone and Blue Transferware pieces joined by additional blue and white collectible china.





As always we completed our booth with some of our large collection of Antique Haviland Limoges China, vintage glass, silver, linens, antique quilts and other accent pieces.



The SoWa Antiques Market combines with an Arts and Farmers Market every Sunday through October.

Many of the items pictured are available on line.

(Click on the banner to visit Holly Lane Antiques Internet Store)

Holly Lane Antiques At The Topsfield Antiques Market

Holly Lane Antiques began its summer round of East Coast Antiques Shows at the Topsfield Antiques Market in Topsfield Massachusetts Memorial Day weekend.



A large collection of Early English White Ironstone was the main feature in our booth. Many special pieces recently purchased at the White Ironstone China Association convention were included in this collection.




Early transferware pieces especially in blue and white are always a favorite among buyers.









Quilts, Lovely English Table Linens, Vintage Silver and Glass, Tole Trays and Furniture completed our booth.
























As always we included a selection of our vast collection of Antique Haviland Limoges China along with other very special antique china pieces.



The weather was typical New England with the temperature ranging from 90 one day to 60 the next combined with a Sunday afternoon thunder shower that had all of us dealers scampering to pull everything back into our tents.

Our next show will be the new SoWa Antiques Market which continues every Sunday through October. This market is located in an old trolley barn in Boston's SoWa Arts district of the South End. Holly Lane Antiques is scheduled to be there May 31 and June 14 and then later in the summer. For directions to the SoWa Antiques Market please visit this website www.sowaantiques.com

We would love to meet our internet followers. If you are in the area of our shows please stop by our booth.

If not - remember that many of the items you see pictured are available on line.

(Click on the banner to visit Holly Lane Antiques Internet Store)

Identifying Antique Haviland Limoges Patterns - lll -

Continuing with Antique Haviland Limoges China Pattern Identification -

As mentioned previously, the best and most complete source for Haviland Limoges pattern identification are Arlene Schleiger's books. These books are divided into sections based on the back marks mentioned in an earlier blog. Once you have identified the Haviland maker you know which section in these books to look for your pattern. The main problem with Ms Schleiger's books is that the pictures are in black and white. Most were drawn from a saucer or small plate.













Look very closely at the pattern you wish to identify - preferably on a saucer or small plate if available. Is it a border design or is it scattered all over the piece? Try to imagine it in black and white.









Observe what it is that makes this design unique. This could be the shape of the flower - but since so many are roses this may not be the best starting point. Many patterns have other flowers mixed with the roses - concentrate on them.









Be aware of the placement of the flowers in the pattern - do they loop, are they garlands, do some of the flowers drop to the center of the plate?


























The shape of the leaf is often distinctive.



The addition of ribbons, scrolls or lattices amongst the flowers is perhaps the most helpful in narrowing the pattern identification.






















































Once the pattern is identified with its Schleiger number, most often there are many variations of that pattern. These variations may be in the color of the design, the shape of the blank, the gold trim or lack of it. Sometimes it takes many trips through all of the books to identify a Haviland pattern.













Needless to say, identifying an Antique Haviland Limoges China Pattern can be most time consuming and often quite frustrating. When it is successful it is indeed an accomplishment!





It is always encouraging to verify an identification by looking at the color pictures in Nora Travis books on Haviland China. These books have lovely pictures of many patterns but are not complete identification guides.


Click on the pictures to be taken directly to their store pages and for specific pattern identification.

(Click on the banner to visit Holly Lane Antiques Internet Store)

Theodore Haviland - Romeo Blank With Gold Trim - Schleiger 304 -

A favorite among Haviland China lovers is the Romeo Blank with double gold trim - identified by Arlene Schleiger as Schleiger 304.

The blank is the piece of china before it is decorated - the white ware - with its shape and embossing defined. The Romeo Blank - Schleiger 300 - is gently scalloped with some rim embossing. However, this blank really comes into its own with the variation - Schleiger 304 - with the double gold trim.






Many of the patterns found on this particular blank are very similar with patterns of small pink roses or other flowers. These patterns are often combined to create a wonderful table setting with the primary unifying aspect being the Romeo Blank and secondarily the pink color. In fact, most often these types of combined table settings have a much more special effect than a table with the china all identical. Looking at the pictures presented here one can easily imagine such a table setting.














Many pieces of Antique Haviland Limoges China on the Romeo Blank are available for purchase at Holly Lane Antiques. Click on the pictures to be taken directly to their store pages and for specific pattern identification.

(Click on the banner to visit Holly Lane Antiques Internet Store)