My Obsession with Transferware

My love for collecting things needs no explanation. I collect mostly vintage items such as quilts, English advertising pots, crocks, scales, flower frogs, and transferware. Today I am sharing my transferware collection.

My theme for the month of May is collecting. 

My love for collecting things needs no explanation. I collect mostly vintage items such as quilts, English advertising pots, crocks, scales, flower frogs, and transferware.

Today I am sharing my transferware collection. I have vintage and new pieces and even though some of my collection is rare, I use it all the time.

Look at this brown transferware! Isn’t it just fabulous? This photo shows two of my transferware platters and three bowls I recently acquired. I love the designs, the color, and basically everything about them.

What is transferware?

Transferware is the term given to pottery that has had a pattern applied by transferring the print from a copper plate to paper and then to the pottery. While produced primarily on earthenware, transfer prints are also found on ironstone, porcelain, and bone china. 

Most transferware patterns sought by collectors today are two-tone in color. Blue and white, red and white, and brown and white are the most common colors.

Where can you buy Transferware?

The first thing you need to know is that my transferware collection primarily consists of dinner (and some salad) plates. I also own a few platters and bowls. I don’t collect teacups, saucers, and most serving pieces because they are too hard to store and I don’t think I would use them that often.

Vintage and new transferware can be purchased in stores and online. As much as I love the vintage pieces, it’s often hard to find a full vintage set of the same pattern. The prices can also be high but occasionally I will find a great deal on Etsy or at a vintage flea market. 

I found these vintage transferware items to buy online that I love. If you want one you will need to move fast because they are all one of a kind items for sale.

I also found more transferware plates and platters. My favorites are the plates in black and brown.

I also own a lot of newer transferware. Here are some of my favorites.

This pattern seen below from Spode is called Delamere. I just added this pattern to my collection last year and Delamere is one of my favorites. I also think they are very reasonably priced.

My favorite pattern of all time is called Asiatic Pheasant. I can’t explain why I have seen this exact plate with three different manufacturers listed on the bottom: Royal Stafford, Wedgewood, and Johnson Brothers.

I am slightly embarrassed to say that I own these plates in five different colors: black, blue, red,  pink, turquoise, and green. A few months ago I found the dinner plates at Home Goods (for $5 each).

I think I like the black plates the best.

The red plates are perfect for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, and more.

When I saw these plates at TJMaxx I about died! I had no idea they were available in pink!

I worked with Spode last year and acquired quite a few new plates for my collection.

I absolutely loved combining brown and blue transferware together.

One of the first blog posts I ever wrote was jokingly titled “My Life as a dish-Whore-der“. I took the photo below for that blog post. It was my collection three years ago. Since then I have added five more sets of transferware dinner plates. I know I am obsessed with these plates. So I have imposed a self-moratorium on buying any more plates! 

If you would like to see the names of each of these patterns, just click on any of the numbered links below.

1-Spode Celebration* // 2-Noritake Richmond*  // 3-Portmeirion Pomona // 4-Royal Stafford Asiatic Pheasant-Black // 5-Johnson Brothers Rose Chintz // 6-Minton Bridal Veil* // 7-Wedgwood Edme // 8-Johnson Brothers Old Britain Castles-Pink Christmas * // 9-Spode Festival* // 10-Royal Staffordshire Avondale* // 11-Wedgwood Osborne* // 12-Enoch Wedgewood Kent* Plus we will have more!

*Many of these are discontinued, but I love the website Replacements Limited which I linked to almost all of the discontinued pieces. You can still purchase them here.

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