Beginner's Guide to Antique Pink Lustreware

I have an antique tea set that serves twelve people. It is a beautiful, hand painted, pink lustre tea set, made well before the Civil War. The beautiful pink lustre decoration is not the only way I can tell it is from an earlier period of time. The inclusion of a waste bowl, shape of the teapot, the shape of the teapot handle and the shape of the teacup handles, also indicate that it is pre-Civil War era.

The waste bowl is roughly the size of a single serving salad bowl in today's modern tableware. (The waste bowl in a tea set was used to pour cold tea into from your cup and saucer so that you could start with a cup of hot, fresh tea from the teapot.)

The teapot shape is squat, and rectangular and the lid fits snuggly on the recessed lip of the teapot's rim. This is called a "London shape" ¹ .

Based on the clues mentioned previously, the tea set was most likely made between1835-1845. A pink lustre set for twelve such as mine was undoubtedly purchased by an up and coming middle class woman of the period to entertain her ladies' circle.

Pink lustreware was popular between 1790-1850 ² . It was manufactured by many pottery factories in England. Swansea and Sunderland potteries were particularly prolific in the making of pink lustreware. Pink lustre is created by adding a solution of metallic copper to a white or cream bodied piece of pottery prior to firing ² .

Remarkably, I found a pink lustre master sugar bowl that could easily pass for part of my tea set at a yard sale a few years after I purchased the tea set at auction. The tea set cost me $260 in 2005. The master sugar bowl cost $3! Even in the current down market, the tea set and sugar bowl are probably worth around $600 together. This is because it is incredibly hard to find complete pink lustre tea sets that serve four or six people, due to their age. A pink lustre tea set for twelve people that is intact and in good shape is almost unheard of!

If you decide to collect pink lustreware, remember the following:

• Don't get hung up on terminology: "luster" and "lustre" are both correct.

• Try to stay away from damaged or repaired pieces, regardless of age. Collectors will always pay more for pieces in good condition and these pieces will retain their value and be worth far more in the future than damaged pieces.

• Since most pink lustreware in existence is now between 150-200 years old, it will be easiest to find individual pieces, not whole sets. For instance, I have a separate pink lustre teacup and saucer collection! (The going rate for individual pink lustre teacups and saucers is roughly $35-$65.)

• Children's pink lustre play dish sets are even harder to find than sets of life-size pink lustreware. The prices these play dishes command are usually two to three times as much as life-size pink lustre dishes, and the more complete the play set, the more valuable it is.

• Because most pink lustreware was made when English potters weren't required to mark their wares, you will need to become familiar with the patterns, styles and types of wares made to identify actual potters of your pink lusterware. Oftentimes, this won't be possible. I haven't narrowed down for sure the maker of my pink lustre tea set, although I suspect it was made by Davenport Pottery in Staffordshire, based on the style of decoration.

Before you begin to collect pink lustreware, visit a number of antique malls and shops and become familiar with its look and feel. Beware! There are some modern reproductions of Sunderland marbled pink lustreware out there, but the rest is usually authentic, and you will be able to tell after you become familiar with the look and feel of the old pieces. Happy Hunting!

Sources:

1. Lorraine Punchard, Playtime Pottery & Porcelain, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1996, P. 10.

2. W. Bosanko, Collecting Old Lustreware, George H. Doran Co., 1916, archive.org.