A Story of China

This is a picture of the modern version of my granny's china.  It's Royal Copenhagen Blue Fluted Plain.  She married in 1901, and had the lovely Victorian version, with plates as deep as soup bowls (they really believed in gravy, back then).  She had a twelve-place set, with serving dishes, platters, etc.  When she died, it was split between my father and Aunt Zoe, with the understanding that it would be reunited and left to me.  Aunt Zoe was my godmother, so this made sense.

I loved that china.  I thought it the most beautiful and elegant thing I ever had the privilege of using.  When Aunt Zoe died, Dad, Mom and I were already in Canada; in any case, Aunt Joan had to sell Aunt Zoe's half of the set in order to bury her.  And when my dad died, he left everything he had to my stepmother.  Probably just as well...I'd go crazy with china that expensive.  However, watching a Britcom back in the day, I saw the actors having morning coffee in their kitchen using china with a very similar pattern.  I was chuffed!  I knew there had to be a knock-off.  What TV show uses Royal Copenhagen as a prop?  Too silly for words!  I emailed the TV studio, but got no answer.

Years later, shopping with Addy, I stumbled upon a partial set of the knock-off at an antique mall.  In spite of my having shown how badly I wanted them (I let out a SQUEEEE! before I could stop myself), she bought them for me.  They are made by Furnivals, and here is a picture of a plate, ganked from eBay:

I love this stuff!  This is not porcelain, it's pottery, and it's beautiful.  The Furnivals stuff comes from the 40s, I think, but it's still being made.  The modern brand is Mason, and the pieces seem slightly smaller than the Furnivals, but it's still all sorts of lovely.

I think that, if I saw a teapot somewhere at a good price, I'd buy it.  I'm not supposed to be buying any more teapots, but I couldn't resist on of these!