Antique Minton China Porcelain and Thomas Minton

The Minton china factory production consisted of practical and unpretentious tablewares in painted or printed earthenware or bone china that followed the typical shapes and decorative patterns of the period.
The firm gained it superb reputation when Herbert Minton succeeded his father as head of the firm. Under his management, he enlisted the services of many skilled artists. He introduced new techniques and methods of production. For these reasons, the Mintons was recognized for both industrial enterprise as well as its artistic excellence.

AWN Pugin, Sir Henry Cole, and Prince Albert were close associates whose designs were used by Minton. The painter and sculptor Alfred Stevens, the French sculptors Hugues Protat and Emile Jeannest, and the painter John Simpson were also employed there.

In 1845, Herbert Minton and Michael Daintry Hollins entered into partnership and the tile-making side of the business became known as Minton Hollins & Co. Herbert Minton's successful experiments in making encaustic tiles during the 1840s put him at the forefront of a huge industry supplying the requirments of institutions, churches, and domestic interiors all over the world.

Encaustic tiles are ceramic tiles with a decoration made of different colours of clay inlaid into the surface, a method originally produced in the middle ages. Later, Herbert lead the way in exploiting industrial techniques for producing printed and painted tiles, and for the rest of the century the firm produced tiles in a vast array of styles, many of them designed by leading artists such as Christopher Dresser, Walter Crane, John Moyr Smith, and William Wise. Relief-moulded tiles were introduced to the Minton range from the 1860s.

Parian Ware is a marble-like unglazed porcelain body developed during the 1840s and used most successfully for sculptural pieces.

John Bell, the American Hiram Powers, and Albert Carrier de Belleuse were among the sculptors who produced statuary for Minton.

Popular scaled-down models of larger pieces by contemporary and past sculptors were produced in Parian ware and the material was often used in combination with glazed and painted bone china for display pieces.

Leon remained there until 1892 and among his achievements were the development of Renaissance inspired ceramics such as inlaid earthenwares, pieces painted in the style of Limoges porcelain and in 1850 Minton China introduced the richly coloured and heavily glazed majolica.

Majolica was first shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and used for all kinds of objects from large garden ornaments and elaborate display pieces to dishes and jugs for the table. Arnoux attracted other French artists to Minton, notably the sculptor Carrier de Belleuse, the modeller and decorator Marc-Louis Solon and the painter Antoine Boullemier.

This beautiful but labourious process involves building up a design in relief with layers of liquid slip, each one having to dry before the next is applied. Using this technique, Solon and his apprentices modelled diaphanously clad maidens and tumbling cherubs on vases and plaques with a skill that was unmatched by any other factory.


After Herberts death the firm was run by his nephew Colin Minton Campbell and Colin was a visionary like his uncle. From the 1860's Oriental decoration pre-occupied Minton. Highly original pieces, both in earthenware and bone china, evoked Chinese cloisonne enamels, Japanese lacquer ware and ivories, Islamic metalwork and Turkish pottery.

The art studio was set up under the direction of the painter WS Coleman, in order to encourage both amateur and professional artists to decorate china and tiles for Minton. Although popular and influential, unfortunately the studio was burnt down in 1875 and was never rebuilt.

Even though excellent work continued to flow out of the factory, management languished among disinterested Minton family members and the company narrowly escaped bankruptcy.

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Why Antique Limoges Porcelain is one of the most Collectible Ceramics

The history behind it, and the current manufacturing process certainly play a role, adding to the mystique and individuality of the pieces.


Limoges, a French city southwest of Paris, predates Roman times. Its physical placement, directly on the river Vienne, makes Limoges an easy, accessible stop; one that would even be called necessary in those early years when journeys were more arduous than enjoyable.

Unlike many American towns which found themselves dependent on one industry to fuel the economy, an industry that dried up for one reason or another, the artisans of Limoges didn’t simply curl up and die because the trends had changed. Luckily they caught a break.

Just as the call for limoges enamel pieces dwindled, kaolin, an essential clay in the making of porcelain, was found just 18 miles southwest of Limoges at St. Yreix. With that, a new era began for the town.


Limoges built its first porcelain factory a mere six years after the initial find of the kaolin.
The kaolin is combined with pulverized feldspar and quartz. Then a fine process of milling, pulverizing, heating, molding and firing begins. Europeans consider this product porcelain only if it retains a translucent quality.

Every piece can not meet the rigorous standards. Many crack or break during the process and must be discarded. What sets antique limoges porcelain apart from other ceramic forms may be considered a technicality, but a necessary one to the creators of this art form.

Pottery will absorb water. Conversely, even if porcelain has been chipped or cracked it will not retain water. Nonetheless, chipped or cracks items have to go. They won’t meet the Limoges quality standards.

The shape is there, but an artisan then has to decorate the individual object, add tiny hinges if needed, to any one of the figurines, pill boxes or other porcelain product you’ll find bearing the Limoges porcelain marks.

Once the artist completes his or her work using the special paints used on porcelain, the product goes through another firing process. This long production process is what makes Limoges porcelain collectible. By the end of the process, like snowflakes, no two products will turn out the same. So when a collector speaks of having a one-of-a-kind item, this will be the truth.

Shortly after the first Limoges factory was established, Louis XVI bought it. For a time, production was still limited due to restrictions on the production of porcelain products. The French Revolution brought an end to these restrictions and Limoges flourished in the wake.


Once again, its physical placement played a huge role: a mixture of its proximity to the essential ingredients, as well as its general accessibility by land or water. Moreover, the city was lucky enough to have a grand forest in Limousin, which could supply the extensive amounts of wood needed to fire the kilns used in the production of antique Limoges porcelain. On all counts, Limoges proved the ideal spot. Workers flocked to the town, and by 1819, four porcelain factories graced the land.

By 1861, this would increase again to 27 factories, supporting some 3,166 workers. It was during the 1870s that Limoges finally perfected its porcelain process, and the items produced then are considered to be some of the finest antique Limoges porcelain ever made.

David Haviland who had come to Limoges from New York in 1842 in search of porcelain to import to the United States, got the ball rolling. He knew the beauty of the product and the marketability, as his own family had emigrated from Limoges.

By 1855, the demand for porcelain from Limoges in the United States called for Haviland to construct his own factory in the town. By the late 1850’s, sales in the United States accounted for around half of the antique limoges porcelain being manufactured in the city.

Given the extent to which Limoges now depended on the United States for its sales, it naturally suffered a major blow during the Civil War when exports to the United States were curtailed, then halted entirely.
It had to scramble to pick up export business to other countries, which eventually helped a little.

So, when you see a piece of limoges porcelain, the mark you see is not from a particular studio. It may come from one of many studios in the region that choose to use the standardized Limoges porcelain mark. And that’s natural given that the elements (including the traces of soil) needed to produce these delicate creations can be found only in Limoges, France.




The museum features some 11,000 pieces, though not all porcelain. It’s also quite believeable that the pieces have been presented to heads of state over the years; from the tsars of Russia to kings and queens of Europe.

So, it’s not very surprising that we covet it nowadays. If a piece of antique limoges porcelain is good enough for a king or queen, it must be something worth having, right?

The quality of the porcelain and the decoration is far below the quality of genuine Limoges porcelain produced at the Limoges factories in France. And some of this inferior porcelain bears pseudo Limoges porcelain marks and they are being offered as Limoges or Limoges China.

The most common marks are T&V Limoges France, Limoges China, ROC, and ROC LIMOGES CHINA. ROC is short for Republic of China.

There are several factors that can contribute to the value of a piece of Limoges porcelain ... the factory where it was produced; the limoges porcelain mark; how old it is; the condition; how complete a set is; the quality of the decoration and the artist's signature.

You’ll have an easy time finding genuine pieces, as a simple Internet search yields dozens of shops carrying all styles and ages of Limoges porcelain. In fact, the tough part may be in choosing and displaying them, rather than finding them.

Oddly enough, I’ve also seen pieces at jewelry and gem shows for very reasonable prices, and I've paid less than $50-60 for some limoges trinket boxes. The pieces I’ve seen online sell for around $140+, not including auctions which may be better deals.

I’ve also found Limoges trinket boxes in consignment shops, but I rarely see just one of them. The shop owner who spots these and sees the potential generally stocks quite a few. And if they don’t have it in, they can get it, so ask for a catalogue.

At the very least, use online venues to give you an idea of the many things on the market. At one website alone, I found 24 versions of the Eiffel Tower in the Limoges pillbox format. If you can envision it, Limoges has cast it in porcelain.

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Is Noritake China A Worthwhile Addition to Your Porcelain Collection?

Noritake china production began around 1876 when the Morimura Brothers formed a company of that name in Tokyo and opened an export office in New York. They initially produced a full range of china marked with the Nippon mark and also sold china in-the-white, ie; blanks for decorating by outside agencies and decorators, thus the quality of the earlier finished product can vary.

In 1904 the Morimura Brothers formed 'Nippon Toki Kaisha Ltd' and setup a production facility at Noritake near Nagoya on the Japanese island of Honshu. They registered their first Noritake back stamp around 1908 and registered their first Noritake mark in the USA around 1911.

There is high demand for good quality pieces, even with some wear to the handles, which is quite common, and they can fetch good prices. Japanese porcelain has almost always been good quality and has almost always been collected, but Noritake is probably the lesser cousin to the more desireable Kakiemon, Satsuma, Kutani and Imari wares. However we find it appeals to oriental porcelain collectors and that there is a good market for it.

The American architect Frank Lloyd Wright probably thought so too, when he designed tableware for Noritake in the 1920's. The tableware was produced for the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

There are three commonly seen Noritake marks, namely the Noritake Maruki (often called Komaru) Mark, the M (for Morimura) Wreath Mark and the RC (for Royal Crockery) mark.


Between 1890 and 1921 the company marked their export china with 'Nippon' in western characters. These Nippon marks can date pieces to the 1890 to 1921 period, before the McKinley Tariff act demanded 'Japan' was used. After the first World War all Noritake production was marked 'Japan' or 'Made in Japan' to comply with the McKinley Tariff Act, and Nippon was only very rarely used after 1921. The use of Nippon can sometimes cause confusion as some pieces bear marks that state simply 'Oriental China, Nippon' around a rising sun. These Nippon marked pieces are highly desireable but collectors should be wary of faked Nippon marks on later pieces, particularly from the 1960's.


After WWII, from 1948 to 1952, Noritake China was marked in slightly differing ways, the most common marks used included 'Occupied Japan' or 'Made in Occupied Japan'.


Also Immediately after WWII, and due to an inability to maintain quality standards, the company stopped using Noritake on their marks and used 'Rose China' alongside a rose with 'Made in Japan' or 'Made in Occupied Japan' below. From about 1963 the company marked their china with 'Noritake Company Ltd'.
There are marks that include pattern or series names including Impromptu, Oneida, Grandceram, New Lineage, Noritake Tea Collection, among others. The most current mark includes 'Noritake Bone China' above a grecian style urn, within a wreath and with ® and Japan below.

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Antique Berlin Porcelain and Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky

The Antique Berlin porcelain factory was founded in 1761 by Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, who picked up the pieces of the factory belonging to Wilhelm Casper Wegely, after it went bust in 1757.

When Wegely, a wool-manufacturer, obtained a licence to set up a factory with the help of many Meissen and Hochst workers, who probably supplied the necessary kaolin and a model for a kiln able to produce porcelain.


Quality, however, was of a poor standard and Wegely had to close the factory due to financial problems.
During its existence, Heinrich Reichard was the master modeller and Isaak Jacob Clauce the painter. Porcelain wares produced by the Wegely factory were marked with the initial W and a combination of numbers.

In 1761 the merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, bought the arcanum from the Wegely modeller Reichard. He also secured the collaboration of the Wegely painter Clauce and bought the remaining stock of the Wegely factory.

In order to improve the quality of the porcelain, Gotzkowsky hired experienced craftsmen from the Meissen factory. These included the modeller Friedrich Elias Meyer and the painters Karl Wilhelm Bohme, Johann Balthasar Borrmann and Karl Jakob Christian Klipfel.

After only two years in operation the new factory was employing around 150 people and as the demand for porcelain goods was limited to the very rich, Gotzkowsky was overwhelmed by financial difficulties.

Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky was forced to sell the factory to Frederick the Great in 1763.


After acquiring the Berlin Porcelain factory, Frederick the Great took great steps to promote it and to maintain the quality of the porcelain and the wares.

The Meyer brothers, originally recruited by Gotzkowsky, modelled outstanding figures and Berlin porcelain flower-painting (called Deutsche Blümen) set the standard for other factories to follow.

Just like many other porcelain factories, the Berlin Porcelain factory has had its ups and downs over the years, but it has always managed to survive the difficult periods.

Today the Berlin Porcelain factory is still one of the leading porcelain manufacturers in Germany and it still sells high quality products all over europe and to the rest of the world.


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Basics on Determining the Value of Porcelain Figurines

Many of us have those cute little porcelain figurines around the house that we refer to as knickknacks. However, there are quite a number of people out there who put a lot of time and careful consideration into their porcelain figurine collections. Although a large number of people have never seriously considered the worth of some of the figurines we have in our possession, we could be sitting on a piece that is worth a great deal. With this in mind I would like to give a few pointers and clues to look for so that you will be able to have at least a basic grasp on the possible value of your collection.

Determining the theme of a porcelain figurine is important. What I am referring to is what time period does the piece represent?

For example, if your figurine is a woman dressed in a gown from the French court she could possibly be representative of the Louis XVI period. This type of information can prove very useful, many large, well known collectors who purchase from the person who just so happens to have the piece they need, collect only pieces from certain time periods and are willing to pay a substantial amount for the piece they are seeking.

Knowing the various manufacturing companies that produce porcelain figurines is also a benefit. Many companies are no longer in business, this can add value to pieces that were produced by such companies. Numerous collectors seek these figurines due to their limited quality, and as there will be no more produced under that particular name they gain in value.

Familiarity with the artists who did the designs and detail work of porcelain figurines will also provide you with significant information. Many figurines that were designed by a particular artist grow in appreciation and become more valuable over time. This proves very true especially after the death of an artists, as in the Art world, many artists' work gains significantly in value after their death. The reason for this is due to the fact that there will be no further work produced by the artist, making the work now available even more desirable, because of the limited number of examples available of the artist's work.

There are many other factors that can play a part in determining a porcelain figurine's value, but these are the three best ways I have found.

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