Discovering New And Vintage Porcelain

Many people enjoy collecting vintage porcelain, while some prefer more modern pieces, and some like to mix styles and eras. Vintage items, obviously, are harder to come by. There are several means of acquiring vintage porcelain, such as attending antique shows, estate sales, auctions, visiting websites, and occasionally inheriting family heirlooms. In years past, one might have found it virtually impossible to replace broken or lost pieces of china, pottery, or flatware without writing or calling collectors, then having to wait until they do their research and get back to you. With the invention of the Internet, this problem is often easily solved.

If you are just beginning to research vintage porcelain, here are a few names to look for, and a little information about their beginnings. Some of the more popular makers of fine china and porcelain are Minton, Pouyat, Haviland, Nippon, and Noritake. Over in the United Kingdom, Minton China began in 1798 in Stoke-On-Trent. There's not much of their history available, but they are still around and make beautiful pieces.

In France, the Pouyat brothers formed a partnership with the owner of a porcelain company in 1816, also located in their town of Limoges. The brothers bought the company four years later and continued production until 1865. The Pouyat family then continued to produce porcelain until at least 1932. Haviland Limoges was established in 1842 when David Haviland moved from New York to Limoges, France, to start production of his own line of porcelain. He chose Limoges because not far away was where kaolin clay was discovered; a pure, very white clay.

"Nippon" means Japan. Nippon china was made in Japan for export to the United States from 1865 to 1921. At that time importing ceased because of the McKinley Tariff act that prohibited the import of items not clearly stamped or marked in legible English words. Noritake actually began in 1876 when the Morimura brothers established their own trading company. Two years later they founded "Morimura Brothers" in New York City where they traded china, porcelain and dolls. It wasn't until 1904 that they established making their own china in the town of Noritake, near Nagoya.

For a more modern-day company, there is Franz. Francis Chen founded Franz Porcelain in 2002. He wanted to revive the art of Chinese porcelain. He adopted his college nickname, Franz, for the name of the company. Franz Porcelain has a beautiful, artistic flare for making functional and unique pieces such as vases, cups and saucers, bowls, covered boxes, jewelry, and more.

Polish pottery is extremely durable stoneware, which originally began in a German province that is now part of Poland. It started as local folk art, and their wares were storage pieces made by farmers and primarily sold in local markets. Today, Polish pottery is still produced in that same region by local artisans who hand-paint each piece.

No matter what you're looking for--a single replacement teacup or multiple place settings of vintage porcelain--with a little time you can find what you're looking for on the Internet or by attending shows or auctions.