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Identifying Syracuse China Patterns RARE Designs
Syracuse China began operation in 1871 as Onondaga Pottery Company (OPCO) & still continues to produce china today in Syracuse New York. They are most widely known for their restaurant, hotel & railroad dining car china, although they have made fine china also. I will be writing several guides to try to help you as a buyer or seller identify some of their patterns & designs. They have made thousands of designs & it would be near impossible to identify them all. I have been selling Syracuse China on EBAY for about 5 years. SADLY I have NOT saved all of my pictures. I just recently decided to start saving them so I could write a guide. Therefore my pictures are limited. Each EBAY guide can only have 10 photographs each. This is the main reason I have to divide up the patterns into seperate guides. It may take me awhile to get all the patterns I have listed, as I have to do this in my spare time (of which I do not have much!) My first guide was on Railroad China patterns, the third was strictly hotels & restaurants, others have a variety of designs. This guide s on some of the rare or harder to find patterns.
The Onondaga Hotel Syracuse NY
The Onondaga Hotel opened in Syracuse, NY, August 1910. By 1915 the hotel had 500 rooms. By the 1940s, this well-known hotel had three popular restaurants, including a Rooftop Garden. Unfortunately it was torn down in 1970. The figure standing in the canoe is said to be the legendary Chief Hiawatha, founder of the Five Nations Iroquois Confederacy.
Vinoy Hotel St. Petersburg FL
The Vinoy Park Hotel opened in St. Petersburg Florida in 1925. A grand resort hotel the prices were $20.00 per night for a room, which was quite expensive at the time! During WWII the hotel was taken over by the US Army. The original Hotel closed it's doors in 1974 & reopened in the 1990's with a 93 million dollar renovation.There are 4 little vignettes on this child's cup that are separated by what I think is a seaweed or kelp design. There is a thin black pinstripe around the rim & a small stripe & touch of the seaweed design on the tiny handle. Two scenes are the beach's edge with clouds above & if you look closely little starfish & shells lay at waters edge with waves rolling in. One scene depicts 2 children making what appears to be a sand castle. There is a beach umbrella in the background & you Can see a woman and a man in the scene. There is a boat on the sand to the left of the children. The last scene shows a seagull over the water with the skyline of the beach coast behind it. You Can clearly make out the outline of the Vinoy Park Hotel to the right of the seagulls wings. The Vinoy Park Hotel accounts for another sought after piece of restaurantware. Their dinner plate features a scene of a mermaid on shore looking out at a ship. It is a fabulous plate & I am sorry I do not have a picture for you!
♥ ♥ ♥ VALENTINE'S ♥ ♥ ♥
Unfortunately I do not know what specific restaurant this darling demi cup is from. It is from my personal collection & my favorite piece. I am sure there have been a few Valentine's restaurants in various locations across the country. The word Valentines is actually hand painted on, not a transfer. Besides being my favorite piece is was produced in the the exact month & year of my birthday! Lets just say it is over 50 years old! I have only seen this piece & one time a plate on EBAY.
BRITTANYS COTTAGE
More from the family collection. I bought this set on EBAY for my daughter. The auction closed at midnight on her birthday. You can probably guess, but her name is BRITTANY, thus Brittany Cottage for her! The datecode on this set indicates it is from 1943. I don't think Brittany was a real popular name at that time. This may have meant Britanny England. The name Brittany Cottage is hand painted (under glaze) along with the common backstamp.
SAMPLE GRILL PLATE
For restaurantware collectors any sample plate is usually a great find. I just loved this one as it has childrens motifs, including Rosie O'Neill's KEWPIE! This makes it a double collectable. Since EBAY doesn't allow enough pictures in guides (hint hint) I cannot show you all the graphics close up. The roller skating hippo from the ROCKY design (once used by Great Northern Railroad) is depicted as well as the lamb from Mary Had a Little Lamb childs design. You can see part of a hunting sene from childs design as well. The KEWPIES are too cute & I have never seen them on another piece of Syracuse China. Datecode on this plate dates it to 1943.
MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
OK I admit it I am showing you a broken plate! This too was part of my own collection until my son & his friend decided to play baseball inside the house! I had a matching cup too! I saved this piece because most of the design in intact. I have seen the same transfer used by several china companies. You can see a little lamb that was part of the series on the grill plate above. This was just one of the children's dinnerware patterns used by Canadian National Railroad, although I do not believe those pieces were made by Syracuse. Some stock transfer patterns were used by various manufacturers. Other childrens designs to look for made by Syracuse.
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Airbrushed or shadowtone lamb, chicks & kitten,
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Kinderhook which features Dutch Children
- Rocky. See my Identifying SYRACUSE China Patterns Guide #1 Railroad China to identify Rocky.
- Union Pacific Railroad Circus Series (quite sought after by collectors)
AIRBRUSHED SHADOWTONE FISH
In 1937 Syracuse added the "shadowtone" decorating process to their designs. It is a form of airbrushing with a stencil. You will see a number of styles including bears, pinetrees, florals. The fish seem to be quite popular. I have seen pink as pictured above, & multicolor. I had a lobe individual teapot once with angel fish & bubbles in a pale jadite green color. It was nice, sorry I no longer have the pictures!
SEARCHING FOR
SYRACUSE CHINA ON EBAY
When searching on EBAY for Syracuse China be sure to check both
Pottery & Glass>Pottery & China>Syracuse China
Pottery & Glass> Pottery & China> Restaurantware
This is only a touch of the many designs made by Syracuse China, but I hope it is of some value to you. If you are a collector or seller you might want to look into purchasing the following books here on EBAY.
The Official Guide Railroad Dining Car China by Doug McIntyre
Dining on Rails An Encyclopedia of Railroad China by Richard Luckin
Restaurant China Volumes 1 & 2 by Barbara Conroy.
If you have any questions you might want to check out the
Pottery & Glass Discussion Board
Click on my ME PAGE to find a link to my website. I am sure you will find treasures there you will love. Monogrammed, wedding, & embroidered handkerchiefs, bed and table linens, tea accoutrements and tea party accessories. Beautiful Gifts, lace parasols and fans. Thanks for looking & enjoy your collecting!
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