I’m sure that this gravy boat cost more than what my grandmother and her sister paid once upon a time to buy their mother, my great-grandmother, a set of china dishes. But I always wanted to replace the long-lost gravy boat. And now I have.
I think this makes my set complete, except… for the one dish broken in a move that I still mourn. I have 16 little plates (can be settings for both the coffee cups or the little bowls), seven dinner plates (one broke in a move – tears were shed), eight soup bowls, one serving platter, one coffee creamer and one sugar bowl. And now, the gravy boat. There MAY also be a very large serving bowl as part of the set – still researching that.
The whole set would probably go for $30 at a thrift store. But these dishes mean the world to me. When I use them to serve, I always notice a bit of discoloring in a dish, or a bit of wear on the gold lines somewhere else, or just a bit of indention in a plate. And I wonder about the stories behind these signs of use. I knew my great-grandmother, and her husband, my great-grandfather; I visited their farm in Henderson County, Kentucky oh-so-many times. This lets me be connected to them and all of their descendants in a very tangible way.
So, for those who want to know more about the maker: It’s from Homer Laughlin. That was a real person (March 23, 1843 – January 10, 1913) and, with his brother Shakespeare, formed the Laughlin Pottery Company. In 1879, Homer bought out Shakespeare. Laughlin Pottery then became the Homer Laughlin China Company. The company became the largest manufacturer of crockery in the USA. The Homer Laughlin China Company moved all operations to Newell, West Virginia, in 1907. Operations continue in that location today as Fiesta Tableware Company.
The code on the back of the dishes is A 43 n 8. That means it was made in January 1943, right? The N is for the plant it was made (no idea where though). But the references I’ve found online say that this set is M207 or HLCM207. I don’t know what any of that means.
When I look at these things, and the other precious things in my life, I not only think of family, of history and of heritage. I also think about refugees who have had to leave all of their precious things behind, things handed down from generations. And I mourn for their loss.
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