A look at the design, market and legacy of Victorian pottery

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Sarreguemines Fruit Plates


The very first majolica I ever saw was a fruit plate service made by Utzchneider & Co., also known as Sarreguemines. (I told the story back in June. ) Today these fruit plates are still being manufactured in Europe. Potted since the last quarter of the 19th Century they are probably the oldest continuously produced majolica pattern in the world. I bought a set of these brand new from a department store in 1986. I still use them today.

There are six different dessert dishes in the set: strawberry, cherry, pear, grape, apple and plum plus an alternate design for the grape plate. Considering the availability of these plates today you would think dealers would have a difficult time selling them but the testament to their timeless quality is their continuing popularity.







Now, if you're curious about the age of the plates you may have in your own collection, the easiest way to tell how old they are is by the mark. The oldest plates will have the impressed SARREGUEMINES mark shown below. This mark dates the plates to about 1865-1880. 


The word FRANCE was added after 1890 to a similar impressed mark. After 1910 MADE IN FRANCE was added. 


The ink stamp shown here is the mark that I see most frequently. It was used the longest, from 1919-1950. The DV incorporated over the Sarreguemines signature stand for Digoin and Vitry le François, two factories owned by Sarreguemines.


There are other ink marks as well, too many to really post here, mostly used through the 20th Century. The most recent examples are being made by a number of different companies and tend to have simpler markings.


Another way of dating these Sarreguemines fruit pieces is by the impressed number on the underside. The design of the pieces correspond to the following:
  • N° 300 c. 1875 
  • N° 500 c. 1880 
  • N° 1000 c. 1885 
  • N° 1500 c. 1890 
  • N° 3100 c. 1900 
  • N° 3500 c. 1905 
  • N° 4000 c. 1910 
  • N° 4500 c. 1913 
  • N° 5000 c. 1920
The large number of serving pieces produced to compliment them is rather cool. Here are just a few of them.







They're wonderfully cheery pieces to serve on and I always get compliments on them. Today they're being made with lead-free glazes so you can serve on them without worry. The nicest thing though is that they're still in production if I ever want to add pieces to my set!

7 comments:

  1. I've always been struck by the audacity of the Indiana Glass Company, which appropriated the Sarreguemines pear design for a line of glassware they began producing in 1924. It's considered the first "Depression glass" pattern; glass collectors call it Avocado or Baltimore Pear. Many Depression glass patterns are modernist, but this one clearly looks backward.

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  2. Baltimore Pear is an exact copy of the Sarreguemines pear plate. It makes for a nice go along with the majolica fruit series.

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  3. Hi, I just came across this blog post while trying to look up a Sarreguemines piece I got recently. Can you tell me anything about the impressed mark on the 1922-1955 piece- specifically the MT631C? Mine has a similar code ( BT 631C) and I haven't been able to find info about that. Thanks!

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    1. The number you're referencing is the company catalog number.

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  4. I received a whole dessert set from my mother tea cups saucers and a cake plate with cabbabe dome. The mark is the one above early 1920-1960 is this a lead issue? and how much do you think it is worth, there is some chips

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    1. By 1900 lead was already being fazed out of the production of majolica because of he danger of plumbism to the women who handled the glazes. Anything produced in the range you mention should be safe for use. Just to be safe don't use anything chipped or damaged because that exposes the user to the raw metal oxides used in production. We do not give values here but as a general rule serving pieces command more money than plates.

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