Tableware Blog

Once you spend enough time around discontinued china, a strange thing starts to happen.

You stop watching television properly.

Because there it is. A familiar pattern. A discontinued dinner plate. A teapot you have handled before. A mug that makes you mutter, “hang on, is that Hornsea?”

Welcome to the oddly satisfying world of Tableware TV.

Colclough Braganza is one of the best known later Colclough patterns, recognised for its soft blue floral decoration, white bone china body and delicate gold trim. It is elegant without being too formal, familiar without being plain, and still very popular with customers looking for...

We’ve added another fresh selection of discontinued china and replacement pieces to the website this week, with some especially useful everyday items among the latest arrivals. Highlights include Poole Pottery Celadon dinner plates, Wedgwood Blue Pacific soup/cereal bowls, and a small but always welcome group of Royal Albert Old Country Roses.

It is a question we are asked surprisingly often. Is this piece genuine? Could it be a fake? Why is the backstamp different? Why does this pattern look almost the same as another one? The reassuring answer is that, in the everyday replacement china market,...

BHS Lincoln is one of those discontinued tableware ranges that many people remember without necessarily knowing much about it. Sold through British Home Stores and made for everyday use, it was practical, understated and designed for ordinary homes rather than display cabinets.

With its white body, gently embossed fruit decoration and clean, familiar shapes, Lincoln has the quiet charm of a range made for daily life. It was not flashy, but that is very much part of the appeal.

We’ve added another varied selection of discontinued china and replacement pieces to the website this week, with a few particularly interesting and harder to find items among the latest arrivals. Highlights include elegant Spode Midas dinner plates, a useful selection of Marks & Spencer Field Flowers, and several more unusual Hornsea and Poole pieces for collectors.

When people think about collectable or replacement china, the big pottery names often come to mind first. Denby, Hornsea, Royal Worcester, Wedgwood, Poole Pottery and the like all have strong identities, long histories and plenty of well-known patterns.

But some of the most familiar tableware in British homes did not start with a pottery name.

It came from retailers.

Marks & Spencer “Harvest” is one of those familiar designs that seems to have found its way into a remarkable number of British homes. Warm, practical and unmistakably rooted in its period, it became far more than a simple dinner service.