Skip to main content

Gobble Up These Turkey Transfer Ware Pieces

Each year I try to show you all some of the many wonderful vintage Turkey transferware plates that were produced specifically for the American market by the British.  This year I've got an array of fantastic pieces to show and share, like this turkey plate with the ever popular Vista border by Mason's. 



Let's recap on the history of these beautiful, highly collected wares before I show you some of the others I have for sale.

For some time after that first solemn feast in 1621, both the date and observance of Thanksgiving depended on national triumphs and local inclination until 1863, when President Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November the nation's official Thanksgiving Day. By the 1870s, America's rising middle class hungered to celebrate the occasion with dinnerware specifically made for this special holiday.   England's profit minded potters responded to the people of the United States wishes with a series of delectable transfer-printed china patterns depicting the holiday's bird of choice.  Transfer ware depicting turkeys has been in production for over 100 years and remains as popular today, if not more so, than it was when first it came into being.  

 Vintage & antique turkey plates and platters are highly sought by collectors.  In fact, there are many transferware collectors who collect turkey patterns only. 

It's hard for me to choose a favorite, but right now I am loving this antique turkey platter by Ridgway dating back to as early as 1891. 
circa 1891-1920 Ridgway Brown transfer ware Turkey Platter

Transferware depicting turkeys comes in all colors, not just brown or brown polychrome.  Purple transfer ware is hard to find, but especially with a big Tom Turkey strutting his stuff!  Here, we have a gorgeous turkey sized platter by Royal Staffordshire /  Clarice Cliff with the Tonquin border.  


And you all may remember this Clarice Cliff Autumn Foliage plate from an orange and blue Thanksgiving table I set last year.
 Clarice Cliff Royal Staffordshire Blue Transferware Autumn Foliage Turkey Plate


Here is the matching platter, in brown.



I love to display a big turkey platter throughout the month of November, like this red one by Wood & Sons with the English Scenery border. 


Spode made lots of turkey platters and game bird series.  This next one is by far the most exciting one I've come across.  I acquired this along with the 12 matching game bird plates still in the box and they date to the 1930's!  The only time it was used was for a photo shoot for Taste of Home magazine.  So cool!


And this black polychrome platter by Midwinter compliments their Rural England pattern.  This one was featured in Romantic Homes magazine a couple of years ago when they interviewed me about turkey transferware.

 I usually get a request to find at least one of these every year. 



Do you have special dinnerware for Thanksgiving or an heirloom piece you use for the holidays?  What's your favorite of these?

Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
-Henry Ward Beecher-




p/s  Delores at Vignette Design has also done a post on turkey plates…you can see it HERE

Joining
Seasonal Sundays
A Stroll Thru Llife

Let's Dish
Funky Junk Interiors
Savvy Southern Style

Comments

  1. Always enjoy your posts, Nancy. I love, love that blue Autumn Foliage one - wow!! Happy Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What fun and informative information! You sure know how to talk turkey "platters" ha! Happy Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooh...your post made me giddy! I LOVE brown transferware and these are just beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nancy, your selection of turkey platters makes me smile. The only turkey platter I have is a red ware one. One day I'd like to add one of these beauties. I think the Clarice Cliff Autumn is gorgeous in its blue motif. Thanks for sharing all of these. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. ~ Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wish I had a big transferware turkey platter. I do have a big white one that is shaped like a turkey that I got at Target a couple of years ago but I need a transfer one. I love the one that you said is your current favorite. What a beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  6. So beautiful! Your pieces are all so spectacular..wishing you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I always love your pieces. When we get our new home finished I will be shopping your site for sure!! Check out Cloches and Lavender and please follow along. We are starting a new journey!!

    Cynthia

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your blog is seriously one of my favorites! The brown transferware has always been my favorite!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my, these are all so beautiful. Thanks so much for linking to Inspire Me and I hope you and your family have a very Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving. Hugs, Marty

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much for all this wonderful information, Nancy, and the beautiful pictures. Like you, I think the Ridgeway platter is the most lovely. Such a beautiful shade of brown and such a proud Tom on it! Hoping your Thanksgiving holiday was a happy one and that you've been enjoying these last weeks of Autumn. Take care!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from my readers. I appreciate the time you take to post a comment and I read them all.

Popular posts from this blog

English Cottage Living Room - Before, Partly After & Still a Work in Progress

I am sorry for not posting more pictures of the progress we've made settling into this new (to us) home.   It seems life rushes by so fast and that at times, doing little things, even those that I love and enjoy, often get pushed aside and onto the back shelf of my mind where I tell myself, "I'll get to this later".  Well, it is later and though I don't have as much to share with you as I'd like, I'm going to at least share my favorite spot in our living room.  I promise to show the rest of the room soon but for now the opposite half of the living room has been occupied by my daughters boyfriend who has been staying with us for the past 7 or so weeks until his apartment is ready for him to move into, and so the couch is usually made up for him to sleep on!   Here is a photo of the current living room just as we found it, a small room just off the entry of the house with a nice marble and wood fireplace surround, hard wood floors, beautiful crown mouldi

The History of Johnson Brothers and The Friendly Village Tablescape

Last week, Shawn and I popped into a couple of estate sales and I picked up over 100 pieces of Johnson Brother's The Friendly Village .  I think I may have to hang on to 12 of the dinner plates and use them this year at Thanksgiving but the rest of them, including this 48 piece service for 8, will be you know where. I don't know about you all, but I have had enough of Summer and I am down right ready for the cooler temperatures of Autumn.  I've been doing a lot of rearranging around the house….I'm in one of those zones where I've got a zillion projects going on, even if half of them are just in my mind that I'm contemplating!   We've also been moving kids out and around.  Three of them are out and the three still at home are moving or rearranging their rooms around.    Since I am yearning for Fall, haven't posted any tablescapes in a while and just got these Friendly Village pieces I decided to set the table with them.      Oh great, I

More Traditional Red White & Blue Rooms with Transferware

A couple of weeks ago I shared some pictures of beautiful rooms in red and blue color schemes decorated with transferware .    Here is another roundup of rooms that I adore, all with red and blue color schemes and all with transferware!  Enjoy!  (via Traditional Home) (via enchanted home) (my old living room) Joining some of the following parties: Between Naps on The Porch Transformation Thursday at  The Shabby Chic Cottage Feathered Nest Friday at  French Country Cottage Friday Inspiration  At The Picket Fence Cindy at  My Romantic Home Funky Junk Interiors Charm of Home No Minimalist Here WOW  Amaze Me Mondays  Making Monday Link Party  Motivational Mondays  What'd You Do This Weekend?   Inspire Me Monday   Make It Pretty Monday   Monday Link Party  Inspire Me Monday 

My English Country Mom Cave

Susan, at Between Naps on the Porch is hosting a Home Goods Mom Cave contest with four lucky winners.  Come on in to my little niche I've carved out of my house.  This is where I work, create, relax, read and chat with friends and family. This is one of my favorite spots in the house to read about one of my favorite subjects...English transferware or poetry, and drink tea.  I often start and end my day right here. Next to the chair is an antique dumbwaiter which holds some decorative items as well as lots of poetry books.  This is the view of the room from the wing back chair.  This cozy room serves as a small living room, although it's not uncommon to have 8 or 9 of the girls in here during family gatherings.  It's usually where we all wind up to have coffee and visit. . On either side of the sofa I display some of my vintage Canine figurines on Spode meat drainers. Above the sofa are some of my favorite paintings.  The one directly over the sofa my Mom pain

Decorating with Brown Transferware & $100 GIVEAWAY

Brown was introduced as a transferware color around 1829-30 and is the least expensive of colors to make. Therefore it is fairly common, so far as transferware goes, to find.  It is also one of the most collected colors and it is probably the most versatile of colors in my opinion.  Brown is neutral and looks good with any color scheme from pastels to rich jewel tones, but it is with the ushering in of Autumn that I see it popping up in home decor and vignettes the most.  Though, most of these rooms and vignettes are decorated with brown pieces year round, it just seems the perfect time to share them.  I may have to do another post because there are so, so many more equally beautiful spaces that have incorporated the use of displaying brown transferware  and I can't fit them all here. So, check these lovelies out and then stick around for the giveaway at the bottom of the post. This vignette just stole my heart the first time I saw it.  So many of us have vintage luggage

The Aesthetic Movement and Transferware

What is the Aesthetic Movement? The Aesthetic Movement refers to a period of time in the late 19 th century (1870-1900) which was a backlash to the formal Victorian years.  Artists and writers of the Aesthetic movement period maintained the belief that art should provide refined sensuous pleasure, rather than convey moral or sentimental messages.  They believed that art did not have any didactic purpose; it need only be beautiful.  Japanese art had a great influence on Aestheticism. Aesthetic interiors were often decorated with Japanese prints, screens, fans and other objects. An appreciation of the art of Japan is seen in the work of many Aesthetic artists and designers such as James McNeill Whistler and E.W. Godwin. photo credit Country Living The Aesthetes developed the cult of beauty, which they considered the basic factor in art. They ascertained that life should copy art and considered nature as crude and lacking in design

Decorating with Blue Transferware and a GIVEAWAY!

   If you haven't already been over to Enchanted Home , you'll want to go over after you finish this post because the wonderful Tina, who authors the incredibly gorgeous blog,  has a great post up about decorating with dishes plus she's hosting a giveaway to my online shop, English Transferware !  Details at the end of the post! I know Tina loves blue and white (just look at her header and you'll know!) and has a collection of her own. In honor of Tina, I've decided to share some of my favorite images of rooms decorated with and often around blue transferware collections.  You can see more rooms decorated with blue transferware on my Pinterest board . To me, Charles Faudree is just about as synonymous with English transferware as he his with French Country Decorating...he seemed to always find a use for it in his incredibly detailed decorating schemes.  Isn't this bedroom charming? I love this next image from Decor Magazine.  Look how the blu