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| Chicken Fried Steak on OLD STRASBOURG plate |
One of the most common things that we hear at South Coast Antiques is people saying that they would love to have antique china, but that they just would not want to waste the money on something that they can not use. I always ask them what would prevent them from using antique china? I usually get things like it's just to expensive, it's to fragile ,or I might Break a piece. Well, in many cases antique china can be way less expensive than new china. Antique china is no more or no less fragile than modern china, and lastly both old and new break the same.
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| OLD STRASBOURG pattern by K&G, Lunéville |
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| Keller & Guérin Lunéville, France |
I have a set of OLD STRASBOURG pattern by K&G (Keller & Guérin)Lunéville, France. My set dates from 1888. It has 88 on the back stamp and I am safe in my belief that this is the date.
The back mark is from that time period.
I use my set almost every day. Using nice hand painted china like this makes a good meal just a little bit better. This evening I used them to serve homemade chicken fried steak with mushroom sauce, sesame oil fried green beans, and Greek style roasted baby Yukon gold potatoes.
I always wash them by hand and never use anything abrasive on them as the colors are hand applied over glazed enamel. I treat them the same way that I would treat anything good, but I use and enjoy them as often as I can. There is really not much point in having things like this and just putting them back for others to have later. My plates have been around for about 124 years and I am sure barring a major calamity they will possibly be around for a lot longer.
The good thing about breaking a piece today is that one can usually find a replacement online at a moderately reasonable price if one shops around.
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| Wallace Silverplate flatware |
I use a circa 1930
Wallace Silver plate set for my everyday flatware. now with flatware the date on the back is usually the date the company was founded(as in this case 1835), not when it was manufactured. Vintage and even antique silver plate flatware sets can be found for way less than many of the new stainless steel sets.
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| Wallace Silverplate flatware back mark |
A number of my piece have been displayed in a high-profile mirrored case right inside the main entrance. The hours for Antiques Plus are 10 to 5 Monday through Saturday, which means all of you out-of-towners who need something to do on a Monday, can go over to her shop and look at my pottery, and of course her antiques. Joan is enthusiastic about being my sole source here on the Gulf Coast and you can ask her any time to open the case to have a better look, or to touch my ceramic art pottery. Antiques Plus telephone number: (228) 396-2005.
