OK, this one may take awhile to appear in the store, but we just couldn’t resist putting up a picture! It’s rather uncommon to find Hornsea Pottery here in the United States. We understand it’s not the case in the U.K., which is where the pottery was originally started in 1949. Hornsea produced wares up until the 1980s. Most people who collect Hornsea know about their collectible mugs, but they also made a whole host of other dinnerware items.
The pattern we found is known as “Heirloom” and it came both in this Brown color and in Green. We could not believe our luck when we found this large set of Heirloom in one place. We’ve seen the odd mug or cup here and there, but never a larger set like this. It was produced in the early 1970s, and we’re wondering how it got to California – did other retailers carry the line and sell it in the States? In any case, we hope we come across more Heirloom in the future – we’re still figuring out if we want to put this up in the shop or keep it! =)
December 7th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Hornsea!! I’m in Australia, and there’s quite a bit of Hornsea here. I have some of the Bronte canisters. They’re so lovely and SO 70s!
December 7th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Beautiful pattern & colors. Very nice. I like it.
December 7th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
@claire – Oh neat, I didn’t know that Australia had lots of Hornsea too! It really is hard to come across here, we only had 2 mugs before we found this lot.
@shara – Thanks, I agree the pattern is really nice!
December 8th, 2010 at 9:19 am
In all my years of thrifting in OR/WA I’ve only found one piece of Horsea, what a score!
December 8th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
OH- this is a BEAUTIFUL print. I think I would definitely keep it. A rare find, indeed.
December 8th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
I’d so be tempted to keep it and use it for my fall dishes. I used to change my dishes every season until I fell in love with Ben Seibel. I own around 45 of his plates all in different colors. We use them everyday and I never seem to tire of them. Do you find many of his dishes your way?
December 9th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
@sputnik – I was wondering if Hornsea is more common on the east coast, certainly seems like there is less here on the West Coast
@van – Sorta torn about whether to keep it, well, maybe we’ll keep it for just a little while =)
@selena – Wow 45 plates! We use a few Ben Seibel items, I think it’s Impromptu Harvest Time gumbo bowls but not sure. We do see Seibel every so often at thrifts, mostly the Mikasa stuff though. But we did come across some of the amazing Ben Seibel / Roseville / Raymor dishes awhile back – should be putting up some pics of that soon!
December 11th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I do love the Hornsea style! I still somewhat regret putting, & subsequently selling, my green Heirloom carafe/mug set. As you mentioned, it’s somewhat hard to come by in North America (I’m in Canada).
That is a delicious set you have! Not sure if I’ve ever seen such a large gathering of Heirloom all in one place before.
January 11th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
I just purchased 3 migs from Goodwill that have the John Clappison Partridge ina pear tree design. These are olive green in color. They look identical to the Hornsea mugs, but the bottom is stamped Japan. So, should I consider that these are just Japanese reproductions?
Thanks for any assistance…I was hoping they were valuable, but they look cool even if they aren’t.
January 11th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
@caren – we’re still trying to figure out whether to put it up or not! Have been trying to become less sentimental about nice finds, but tis difficult!
@erika – unfortunately, I’m not an expert on Hornsea. I think I know what you’re talking about though, have seen some from Japan that look very similar. Though, usually they don’t look “identical”. I’d ask around someone from England, also maybe in the Hornsea flickr group?
June 5th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
I live in Brisbane, Australia and have just purchased the green hornsea “Heirloom”. Have purchased 2 coffee jugs, 1 large milk jug, 1 butter dish, 1 six piece spice rack, 1 small milk jug, 1 sugar bowl and 10 tea cups and saucers for $625 Australian dollars. The dealer said it came in 3 colours, brown, green and blue. These are collectables era 1960′s no longer made.