• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

What French porcelain should I buy?

gdl203

Purveyor of the Secret Sauce
Affiliate Vendor
Dubiously Honored
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
45,602
Reaction score
54,388
Bernardaud (Limoges)
 

Manton

RINO
Joined
Apr 20, 2002
Messages
41,314
Reaction score
2,879
Originally Posted by gdl203
Bernardaud (Limoges)

This and Haviland are the two I am familiar with.

Is there a Limoges hierarchy?
 

gdl203

Purveyor of the Secret Sauce
Affiliate Vendor
Dubiously Honored
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
45,602
Reaction score
54,388
Originally Posted by Manton
Is there a Limoges hierarchy?
I wouldn't know... I actually have no interest in "table arts" but I just know that the Bernardaud stuff we got as wedding presents is really nice - the decorations and patterns are subtle and tasteful.
 

Manton

RINO
Joined
Apr 20, 2002
Messages
41,314
Reaction score
2,879
I wanted Limoges, but I got this Russian stuff instead. It's OK, but the teapot looks like the Great Pumpkin.
 

itsstillmatt

The Liberator
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
13,969
Reaction score
2,086
Originally Posted by Manton
This and Haviland are the two I am familiar with. Is there a Limoges hierarchy?
There are a lot of Limoges producers. All are very good. Haviland, Haviland & Parlon, Bernadaud and Raynaud are among the best known and all produce both wonderful and not so sonderful stuff, depending on what you are looking for. I think Puiforcat probably makes the nicest, and their silver is also the finest I have seen, at least from France. Not for the faint of pocketbook. There is great stuff from Germany as well. We use some Danish porcelain that somebody in my family bought at some point. I like it. It is decorated with acorns. Were money no object, I would get this:
pph_10450_s.jpg
 

dopey

Stylish Dinosaur
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
15,054
Reaction score
2,487
Whatever you buy, keep in mind that not all patterns are made forever. If you aren't getting a long-lived classic, make sure to overbuy so you will be able to deal with eventual breakage.

Our pattern, which is a Ceralene/Raynaud pattern was discontinued some years ago and I spent a good deal of time hunting down old stock as insurance so that we would always have 12 place settings, even after the inevitable breakage.
 

LabelKing

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
May 24, 2002
Messages
25,421
Reaction score
268
Originally Posted by dopey
The Raymond Loewy designs, in particular.
Rosenthal's headquarters has an interesting Modernist section, I recall alongside the traditional architecture. Another very good German porcelain is Meissen. Antique Meissen is particularly nice.
 

Lucky Strike

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
3,408
Reaction score
31
Originally Posted by iammatt
About $1000 for a 5-piece setting.
Cheer up, with some luck, it's about a fourth of that second-hand. Very nice, though, the Meissen "Red Dragon" or "Court Dragon" pattern is one of the oldest still made. It was originally reserved for the Saxon royals.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,167
Messages
10,579,181
Members
223,887
Latest member
spyke-52
Top