The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1902-12-19
A WHITE HOUSE SALE.
The old Furniture and Some His
toric China to Go.

tOric China to Go.
The probabilities are, says the WASH
tngton Post, that on the arrival of the
new Roosevelt set Ghe WedgWood
pottery: there will be sale of White
House property, at which large num-
Der of pieces of the Lincoln, Grant ana
Hayes sets will be sold. Collectors
bargain hunters and society people are
on the qui vive of expectancy, looking
forward to an official announcement OF
the auction, which probably will take
place the latter part of next February
or early in March. The sale will in
clude the old White House china, furnl-
ture, carpets and all manner of interior
furnishings.
The Roosevelt set is the first serv-
ice of official queensware that has been
ordered since 1876. 1t will be used not
as the everyday service of the presi-
dent and his family, but only for state
dinners, banquets and occasions of
ceremony. The last official china serv-
ice purchased was the famous Hayes
set, which was made by the Hayilands
of Limoges, France. Since then the
steward of the White House at state
dinners has been obliged to draw upon
the remnants of the Lincoln Grant and
Hayes sets to complete the require
ments of the table,
Colonel Theodore A Bingham, GUS
todian of the White House, in his re-
port of the care and maintenance of the
presidential mansion for 1901, says that
at the end of that year there were 143
pieces of the Lincoln, 125 pieces of the
Grant, 81 of the Hayes, 80 of the Ar
thur, Las of the Cleveland, 495 of the
Harrison and 321 of the Mckinley sets
remaining in the White House. Al
though the first lady of the land is
powerless to give away single piece
of official china, she nevertheless has
the power to order a thing sold if it
fails to suit her taste. Curtains and
rugs that have cost hundreds of thou
sands of dollars have more than once
been put up at auction because the
color failed to satisfy the taste of the
mistress of the White House. Mrs.
Mckinley was quite fastidious in this
respect
The last sale of White House china
and furniture took place on Dec. 20,
1899, Joseph w. Radcliffe being the
auctioneer. a large number of society
people, collectors, curio dealers and
members of the Sons and Daughters of
the American Revolution were on
hand, and the bidding was stiff and
sensational. There is greater demand
for Lincoln china than for pieces of
any other official set, Washington's not
excepted. Just why such is the case is
hard to say, but is due, perhaps, to the
events and associations of that one of
the stormiest periods in American his
tory.
Local curiO dealers never receive less
than $50 and $50 for pieces of the Lin
coin set, and plate has to be pretty
badly damaged to sell as low as SIG
or $17. Pieces of the Hayes set sell for
$40 and $12, the Grant set $50 and for
plates, cups and saucers of Mrs. Harri-
son SOluenfou SET. Do. -IleceS OF the
Jackson and Buchanan sets are well
nigh worthless on account of their
clumsy character, poor ware and lack
of design, selling for almost anything
the buyer is willing to pay. Plates of
the Pierce set bring about So, while, as
a matter of course, high prices prevail
in the case of the Washington and
Jefferson sets. pieces of which are ex-
ceedingly rare.