BACKGROUND:
My wife is cleaning out our "overgrown" collection of mainly English chinaware because she has quality chinaware coming out of our ears!
She has collected quite a bit of Royal Doulton over the years although this dinner setting is one of her "everyday" sets which she is now replacing.
Don't worry! My wife always insists that I ensure that each piece of the dinner setting is available separately ... an added bonus is that she also has asked me to make sure that anyone who purchases more than a few pieces gets a discount - so the more pieces of the dinner set that are purchased, the lower the cost of each piece.
Confused by the MSRP showing on this page? I looked around online to get an idea of what other people are asking for these, some of the prices astounded me! A$60 for a used dinner plate! Seemed a bit rich to me. The MSRP price range is an indication of the pricing that I found while taking a look around online, of course it is condition that REALLY matters and most folks don't exactly give you much (if any) information ... sad.
This dinner setting is what I would call "understated", for everyday use at the dinner table and not really in the class of the "fancy wares" but it is Royal Doulton afterall, meaning a quality product that has been well designed and manufactured (in England not "offshore")
DLAT Rating: 9.9/10 (Darling, Look At This!)
If you wish to see the other Royal Doulton that is currently on this website, click HERE
ROYAL DOULTON - Dinner Setting Comprising 35 pieces in total
Made in England (not "off-shore" as happened with some companies during this period)
Series: H5026
Pattern: MINUET
Minuét derives from a French word, referring to a slow graceful 17th Century dance - although I have this dinner setting spread out all over the dining room table and they are not dancing (neither a slow waltz or some Zomba!) Yes, I am not being serious - life's too short to be serious all the time ...
Fine Bone China (even the heavy dinner plates)
Translucent, meaning if any piece is held up to a light source you will see the shadow of your fingers through the china ... this is NOT earthenware.
Instead of trying to describe the design, here is a closeup photograph
All pieces have Gold gilding to the outer rim only, even the teacups have no Gold gilding on the handles intentionally, very sensible for an "everyday use" teacup! - overall, this dinner setting uses classic decorations while remaining elegantly functional.
The base fine bone china is a pure clean virginal White
BACKSTAMP DETAILS:
Here is a photograph of the backstamp used on these pieces ...
This dinner setting comprises the following pieces ...
TEACUP 6x
SAUCER 6x
BREAD N BUTTER PLATE (SIDE PLATE) 8x
SOUP OR DESERT BOWL 7x
1.75" (DINNER PLATE (10.5") 8x
Yes, that's right ... this was an 8 person setting but over the years a few pieces had a "woopsie" so now this is more like a 6 person setting with a few spares!
DIMENSIONS SHAPE WEIGHT:
TEACUP
3.25" (85mm) diameter mouth
Standard teacup shape (no scalloping, fluting or ribs)
Weight: 125g
SAUCER
6.25" (155mm) diameter
Standard saucer shape (no scalloping, fluting or ribs)
Weight: 155g
BREAD N BUTTER (SIDE) PLATE
6.5" (165mm) diameter
Standard plate shape (no scalloping, fluting or ribs)
Weight: 175g
SOUP OR DESERT BOWL
6.75" (174mm) diameter x 1.75" (45mm) deep
Wide, reasonably shallow bowl (no scalloping, fluting or ribs)
Weight: 290g
DINNER PLATE
10.5" (267mm) diameter
Standard plate shape (no scalloping, fluting or ribs)
Weight: 615g (quite heavy)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
I have spent quite a bit of time examining each and every piece (I am so over looking at this dinner setting!) and I must say, she (the other half) looked after these ... I just ate off them and didn't look closely at the chinaware when at the dining table (unlike our "Princess" (daughter) who inspects every utensil to ensure it is indeed clean!)
All pieces are in very good condition, the only very slight letdown is the large 10.5" plates.
Letdown? What letdown Russ? Please read the following, particularly the reference to the large dinner plates ...
ALL are very clean
ALL have NO cracks or chips (Yes, none of them!)
ALL have NO fleabites, not even those large dinner plates
NO discolouration to any of the decoration on any of the pieces
NO discolouration to any of the pure Virginal White background china, this includes INSIDE the teacups i.e no tannin or coffee stains.
The Gold gilding which is only applied to the outer rims of all pieces is in great condition with practically no signs of handling wear
EXCEPT
The large dinner plates ALL do show light signs of handling wear to this Gold finishing. The gilding is not worn away but looks sort of "patchy" in places ... if I was asked to grade this Gold gilding (on the large dinner plates only) I would go for 9/10 - still pretty good but not perfect!
NO significant central knife cuts or scratches to either the bread n butter or dinner plates, of course there are some (they have been used after all) but the scratching or cuts are extremely light.
Automatic discounts do apply, based on the total quantity someone may require, mix n match is fine i.e they do not need to be all of the same item type. We don't mind how many pieces someone may purchase, we just need to find a new caring home for these poor souls - they are after all 40+ years old, time to leave the love nest!
Those who have previously given refuge to our other pieces of chinaware that left home will know that I am pretty fastidious about the packaging and go to great lengths to ensure that the Australia Post workers don't damage things when they throw them around!
