Having a good set of tableware is surely a sign that you are in possession of a fully fledged, grown-up household. The days of hand-me-down student crockery are in the past, and you’ve graduated beyond the chaos of buying random, mismatched plates, bowls and glasses that don’t quite work whenever you have to host. It is tempting, once you decide that a complete, coherent set of tableware is necessary, to obtain it in one swift go – it’s certainly what I did, ending up with quite a lot of Sophie Conran’s Portmerion collection – but there may come a time when you feel that an upgrade is in order, which is where it can pay off to begin collecting a particular pattern or type of china or glassware. Done strategically, this can be a profitable, as well as a pleasurable, pursuit.
The first thing to do is to work out what your own personal preferences are. Antique or contemporary? English bone china or the finest French faience? Heavy crystal or delicate blown glass? This might seem overwhelming, but a good place to start is to think about the rest of the furniture and objects in your home and go from there. If you adore the mid-century aesthetic, you will probably be drawn to Murano glass or studio pottery. Conversely, if you have a house filled with brown furniture, then look to the potteries of Victorian or Edwardian England.
Once you’ve identified a general area, then Instagram is your friend, as it’s a fruitful place to find specialist dealers who are listing their wares on the platform. Following a dealer with similar taste to you is a fantastic way of discovering particular patterns or makers, and it can feel less intimidating than diving headfirst into eBay or the auction rooms, especially when you don’t quite know what you’re looking for.
‘I get so many customers who have never bought an antique before in their lives, because they find me through Instagram,’ says the antiques dealer Sasha Wilkins, who sells a beguiling assortment of china from her Cotswolds barn. ‘People will buy online or they can come and visit – I have everything out on display so you can have a rummage and see what you like.’
Wilkins has a particular interest in English china – Wedgwood and Copeland Spode are two of her biggest sellers. ‘Not only is buying antiques sustainable from an environmental perspective, but you can often buy an old plate for a fraction of the price of a modern one. If you’re planning on using it, you need to make sure there are no chips, or crazing, or discolouration. If you’re planning on putting it through the dishwasher, you might want to avoid anything too precious – gilt or bright colours will fade, for example – but a lot of what I sell is suitable for daily use.’
Matilda Burn, the head of ceramics and European glass at Christie’s, also recommends investing in English china, as it’s an area rich with bargains. ‘I feel as if Wedgwood is undervalued, particularly from the early 19th and late 18th centuries. You can buy beautiful creamware and black basalt pieces for really not very much money. English ceramics, in general, are a really good place to start collecting because the market has been consistently low over the last decade or so.’
There are some wise purchases to be made on modern services too – Herend pops up regularly at auction, as does Meissen and Limoges. As Burn points out, you can still buy these new from the factory, but the mark-down at auction is significant – even more so, if you’re lucky enough to spot them in a regional auction house. Once you’ve decided on a particular pattern, it’s possible to pick up the odd plate or bowl as and when you spot them – eBay alerts are particularly good for this – and over time, you can build up an impressive collection that would be eye-watering to purchase new.
Auctions can be a particularly fruitful place to hunt for china or glassware if you know what you’re looking for. Due to its fragile nature, the cost of getting a large quantity of glassware or china packed up and couriered can be prohibitive, putting off would-be buyers, so if you are able to collect it yourself, you might be able to land a bargain.
Cindy Leveson is an interior designer who knows the power of an interesting collection, having sourced assortments of tableware for various clients, including the Goodwood Estate. When it came to buying the china for the estate’s Hound Lodge, she painstakingly assembled ten breakfast sets of Hammersley china, piece by piece, over 18 months, finding sugar bowls, teapots, cups and saucers, and plates from eBay, amongst other places. ‘Complete breakfast sets are very hard to find now, but you can usually get the individual items quite cheaply, if you are willing to hunt them out,’ she says.
Leveson’s own collection features a much-loved set of French majolica asparagus plates, as well as lots of glassware – she has several shelves of half decanters, as well as a number of 18th-century rummer glass with square bases, which are both beautiful and very practical to drink out of, as their sturdy, squat stems make them less likely to be knocked over.
For Marie Pontefract, whose shop Albie & Pearl specialises in selling mid-century pieces, it’s all about Murano glass – the colourful Italian glassware made on the islands of Murano. ‘Some of the most iconic and collectible pieces are from the 1950s, and in great colours – powder blues and soft pinks. I love a glassware collection that focuses on a specific colour, such as pink, and then incorporates a range of tones, as well as different shapes. It creates such a strong impact en masse, and shows confidence.’
The unanimous advice when starting a collection is to follow your heart first and see what naturally catches your eye, then gradually learn as you go. If you’re smart, you might end up with a valuable heirloom, but future value aside, you’ll have the joy of something unique to dine off, and to display, that’s guaranteed to raise your spirits for years to come.
