Thank you for joining my friends for a casual dinner with 1950s classic chic.  Thank you to Susan from Between Naps on the Porch and friends for this fun Tablescape Thursday.

Today we are having a casual dinner with friends on retro china from Japan, cut crystal from Duncan Miller, woven placemats and a special art piece by Dave Eickholt.  I got the idea for this table by starting with the china.

Tuillerie China Duncan Miller Kohinoor Tablescape

I bought this china at an estate sale.  The family must have liked china because they had three sets, this one by Tuillerie, some Blue Ridge pieces and a super sharp art deco dessert set from Austria.  I got this pattern because it is soft and pretty.  It looks peaceful and friendly, like a pattern you can use and mix and match with all sorts of things.

Tuillerie Fine Vintage China Bread & Butter Plate

The plates and bowls have a wide cream rim with pretty flower bouquets and an intricate rim design in warm brown and sage.  In the 1940s or 50s this would have been moderately priced Sunday dinner china.  I think it’s pretty and looks older without being all antique-y.

So what to put with this?  I thought the Tuillerie was a good basic pattern that could go with lots of other styles and had enough looks that it could look great with anything from casual to Sunday best.  Let’s see what we can do with it.

After the dishes the next selection was the place mat.   My Mom had these woven bamboo mats forever, at least since the 1950s.  I like the warm natural look and decided to try it with the china to pick up the warm colors in the plates.

Tuillerie China Made in Japan Dinnerware and Duncan Miller Kohinoor Goblets

So far so good.  The dishes have enough warmth to keep up with the casual woven bamboo place mats and not look silly.

Now let’s add cut crystal goblets from Duncan Miller.  This is another aha moment.  The plates are all rounded shapes and beautiful bouquets and these goblets have diamond cuts and squarish shapes.  And it works!  The goblets pick up the woven lines in the place mats and look great with the china.

Duncan Miller Glass Kohinoor Cut Crystal Ice Tea Tumbler

Last question is the centerpiece.  I wanted something with same warm gold colors and the strong lines and decided to use this crystalline glazed vase by noted potter Dave Eickholt.  I picked a round vase in gold crystals with rich burgundy and blue streaks.  Gorgeous!

Dave Eickholt Crystalline Glazed Porcelain Vase

Come in, sit down and enjoy dinner with Dave and me!  If you like what you see we have the china and crystal listed in our store Cat Lady Kate’s Elegant and Depression Glass.

Tuillerie China and Duncan Miller Kohinoor Goblets

Duncan Miller Sylvan Crystal Leaf Shaped Covered Candy Dish

Isn’t this a gorgeous dish?  It looks just like a leaf with the stem curled up to form the handle.  This Sylvan is from Duncan Miller Glass, who had the slogan “Loveliest Glassware in America”.  You can see how true this slogan was by the pure clarity of this glass.

Unfortunately Duncan Miller went out of business in 1955.  Tiffin / U. S. Glass bought several of the molds and continued making some of the patterns, mostly Canterbury and some of the animal figurines.

Duncan Millder Sandwich Glass 10 inch Deep Fruit Bowl

Nice bowl, right?  Yes, it is Duncan Miller Sandwich pattern, good quality glass, nice ground base, useful salad bowl, rather hard to find size, so on and so forth.  So what’s not to like?  If you collect this pattern – and I hope you do – this is a choice piece you will be glad to own.

This is a cautionary tale about relying on published price guides.

Don’t get me wrong, Gene Florence and his fellow authors do a superb job cataloging glass and making it accessible to everyone.  Without the books buying glass is a leap in the unknown.

The problem comes in when you rely solely on the published values to buy or sell.  About two years after I started my business a collector offered me her entire collection of Duncan Miller Sandwich glass.  This was a huge collection filled with unique pieces like candelabras, nut cups, cigarette boxes.

Like an idiot I relied only on my trusty reference books to set prices.  I put rare pieces out on eBay with buy it nows of exactly book value.  I put common-as-grass pieces out the same way.  Needless to say I have very few rare pieces left and lots of the hard to sell stemware, cups and saucers.   I found this salad bowl hiding in a box, which is why it’s still available.

Do buy the books.  I highly recommend Gene Florence’s Collector’s Encyclopedia of Depression Glass and Coe’s Elegant Glass.  Both are excellent with good photos.  These books are responsible for glass being so popular to collect:  It is easy to know what you have, easy to have a clue to the value, and fun to learn more.  Just don’t rely on the book values without doing more research and some sanity checking.