Friday, July 12, 2019

A pattern with a pedigree

The last purchase that I wanted to share from my friend Patti's estate sale preview last week is this trio. I do enjoy sipping tea out of a teacup with a nice wide handle, and I loved the elegant shape of these pieces as well as the pretty peach color of the roses. I see lots of roses in pink, but this softer hue is one I immediately found striking.

I can't say exactly why I find it so elegant (because after all, I still love me some pink), but this just has a certain charm about it. And the pattern?

Well, when I turned the pieces over, every one of them is marked Johann Haviland Bavaria and "Standard Pattern for US AIR FORCE." I've found matching pieces available online this week, but I have no idea what this back stamp means. I don't imagine some fighter pilot had his tea sloshing around in the cockpit, but were the pieces used at Air Force dinners, maybe? Anyone got a clue? If I don't learn the real backstory, I may just have to make one up and make this trio a "character" in one of my books. At any rate, this lovely set instantly became even lovelier to me when I realized that it has a connection to the US Air Force! 

6 comments:

  1. Oh, that is lovely! I hope you can find out more about the backstamp, and I'd love to see this in a future book, too.

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  2. That really is an interesting find! I've never been to an Air Force dinner, so I can't confirm or deny the use of that lovely china pattern. But I hope you find out!

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  3. Pretty pattern. I have no idea but would assume they were used at fancy dinners.

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  4. The pattern was used to supply dishes for Air Force housing in Germany in the 50's and 60's.

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  5. Very pretty and fascinating back stamp. I had almost guessed it was from the 1940's, but I see here in the comments it was a bit later.

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