The times., 1898-02-13
PRETTY SETS OF CHINA.
Some Amazing Ba gains Offered
Nowadays at Low Cost

Nowadays at Low Cost.
Housewives. with aesthetic leanings
and restricted means have a rare oppor-
tunity at the up-to-date china stores
nowadays to consult their taste and
convenience. Never was low-priced
china as good or as acceptable in shape,
design. and coloring. Whether the
shopper be an odd hand. merely re-
plen!shing her closet shelves, or an en-
thusiast just about TO launch out into
housekeeping, she is met on all sides
with sets and individual pieces, SO
tempting. both as to price and appear
ance. as to excite astonishment.
What is the price OF that dinner
set2" asked a young woman the other
day. stopping to admire the graceful
shaped dishes and platters that were
bcrdered with delicate green and out
lined with gilt.
twenty-five dollars was the an
swer. There are l25 pieces in the set. -
Twenty-Five dollars! Is il a mark
dewn-a bargain-just for today?'
mo: that is the regular price sad
the salesman, smiling. This English
porcelain ware is not expensive. 1t
wears beautifully. too. and does not
look cheap. 1t will not crack in dark
lines and chip off like ironstone white
knows how shabby and disreputable
granite plate looks after it has been set
on the back ofsa stove few times, but
this porcelain ware stands hard usage
We have breakfast and tea sets of 1t,
with, of course, a less number OF pieces,
selling for S11 and $12"
Owing to improved facilities for firing
and baking. and the fact that processes
Of cCloring, formerly known only to the
few. are now in the hands of the many,
tasteful china can now be secured for
q very modest outlay. Many OF the de-
signs Of the really fine china are re-
produced in cheaper grades OF goods,
and housekeeper now can get beauty
combined with utility in her everyday
china appointments for far less price
than the common. clumsy-shaped gran
ite ware formerly cost. Two KINDS OF
.oup plates are shown with the $40
set of English porcelain, and the far-
seeing salesman gives advice concerning
the selection.
Il would take these smaller plates,
that are somewhat bowl-shaped, IN
preference to the broad-brimmed
Ulates. because thev can be used for
salad plates or oyster plates, in emer-
gencv. as well as for SOUP he says
.sOn certain occasions they would come
i'm handy. These game plates ana the
Matter do not come with the set, tIey
are not included in the 10 pieces, put
are sold proportionately as cheap, anu
YOU notice that the decorations are so
non-committal that they can be USED
for some other course quite as Wen
as for game. Fhere are enough OF
large and medium sized cups and
saucers in this set to admit of its use
either for breakfast, luncheon, or tea.
The after-dinner coffee cups are beau
tifully shaped. and for the odd pieces
so much needed in fully furnishing
table, / would advise getting them OF
glass. glass being not only cheaper,
hut lighter and more delicate in effect
a dinner table set with this green
bordered ware and supplemented with
celery. cake. asparagus, and fruit dish
es of glass, in the tasteful shapes that
can be got now, is very effective ana
pleasing"
For $3.50 a dinner set of 112 pieces
can be bought. The individual plat
ters and dishes are not as prettily
shaped and fiuted as in the S25 set;
the cups are straight up and down,
instead of opening out flower-like from
the base: the soup tureen is less i'm
posing. more like a covered bowl.
There are only two covered vegetable
dishes. instead of four: the platters
are not SO artistically curved, and
there is no gilt on the scailoped edges.
saucers TO make UP the deficiency, and
the set is neat and refined looking.
The design of such a set is Of a deli
cately interviewer pattern Of pale pink
and blue combined. Another style is
of larger decorative pattern in am
ber pale wood color, or rose. All of
these SS.50 sets are of English porce-
lain ware; 112 pieces of acceptable
shape and design for less than eight
cents a piece THE old-time plain,
white granite ware, dotted IN self pat
terms on the edge is thrown into the
shade. 1t looks cold and unSatiSfacto-
ry. and is put up on the highest place
on the store shelf. as though seldom
called for The field il monopolized So
long has been captured by wholesale
invasion OF color.
Costing only little more than the
English porcelain is blue and white
set of what is called Osborn china
The blue is rich and dark, and has a
soft bloomy appearance, with no sug-
gestion Of cheapness. either in design
or color. For S11 and some odd cents
can be purchased a Japanese dinner
set in English porcelain, having the
Oriental figures. odd head dresses.
guitars. flower pots. and barred WIN
dows common to that picturesque land.
The bricl-dust reds, dull blues and
quaint greens are admirably blended
on a warm, cream-colored ground.
The Delft patterns, windmills. clocks
and flower -bordered waterways, are re-
produced in another moderate-priced
porcelain set, and as an alternative
there are dinner sets with garands OF