SHOP | Alfred Meakin ENGLAND China Plates

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UM, how PRETTY is this Alfred Meakin dinner setting for my big NYE dinner this year?!

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ADORBS, right?! Because I NEEDED it… Just no one tell Hubby pls…

Found an entire dishware set (incl appy plates) for 8 at one of my Salvation Army haunts. Since I was unfamiliar w the Alfred Meakin England name in china dinnerware, I had to do a quick in-store google, but really I just grabbed the plates and soup bowls on looks alone. I’ve been wanting to incorporate some black into a set of dishes, so this seemed the perfect opportunity!

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8+8! I feel badly for the poor salad plates that stayed behind… But then again, it IS nicer to mix n match than to be too matchy-matchy

Upon further inspection at home, the watermark on this one SEEMS to show that it’s from an era just after the original Alfred Meakin AND the subsequent son’s takeover had both ended (died). Since it doesn’t have the sometimes-marked ‘Ltd’, I’m guessing it could date 1907-1913.

Other dishes online with this stamp are listed as “1891-1897” or “1907”, and I found this pattern online once or twice listed as “older”, but still no pattern name… It’s like a needle in a haystack! GEEZ! Not for lack of trying – 5,000 images of “Alfred Meakin” to no avail (thanks for nothing, ebay.uk).

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1890 or 1980? Who knows. Not me, obviously…

That counts as an official “antique”, right?!
Wiki says an item has to be ‘at least 100 years old’ to qualify LOL. These plates are in amazing shape and feel pretty sturdy, so they could just as well be from 1990 for all I know…

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UM!! Perfection with the 12-set “vintage” (?) metal charger trays I found a few years ago at a Thrift Store. Trying it all out w my inherited Lady Hamilton cutlery set…

Anyone have a really good antique identifier website for me???!
I was using thepotteries.org for this one.

I tried some plating ideas that might work for NYE this year, the BIGGEST, BADDEST meal of my entire cooking year. We have more than 8 ppl, so I’ll combine it with my Limoges set (which is just soooooo last years NYE hahaha).

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YEP – the gold art deco cutlery works MUCH better! The extra pattern in the small plate is too much though. Good thing I still have … 3 weeks to settle on a table setting for NYE

I’m tempted to go back and grab the salad plates… SO tempted… Maybe…
I like how this print (so far unidentified) can go modern or vintage when styled on the tablescape. (Update – I totally grabbed the salad plates, too…)

NYE is my biggest cooking meal of the year, spending 3 days cooking to plate and serve an 8-12 course seated dinner over 6 hours. WITH help, of course! But that means it deserves to be plated PRETTILY, amiright?!
What’s your biggest deal meal?!

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