Forsythia by Edwin Knowles

Vintage Feature – Edwin M. Knowles China, a USA Company

Doesn’t this charming plate epitomize vintage? We first thought it was a cake plate because of the handles on each side, but we were wrong! It’s a classic art deco shape called Yorktown, created in 1938 by one of America’s most successful china company, The Edwin M. Knowles China Company.

The mark on the back shows the maker (The Edwin M. Knowles China Co.) and the shape name (Yorktown) but not the pattern, which is Tia Juana. According to the mark on the back , this pattern shape was first introduced November, 1937 (11-37). (Thanks, Harlan, for interpreting this for us!) Perhaps more interesting, though, it includes “Union Made in U.S.A.” to broadcast that the china was made by workers who were fairly paid and treated by their employer.

Looking through the extensive collection of pattern photos on Replacements, Inc., we soon realized we had several Knowles patterns that illustrate the breadth of patterns and shapes this once-thriving pottery company offered to its customers.

Edwin M. Knowles China Company began in 1900 in Chester, West Virginia. Over six decades, the company produced dinnerware considered to be of the highest quality, and their popularity and production increased over the next 60 years. The factory closed its doors in the early 1960s due to the influx of cheaper foreign imports – a common story for many US potteries.

Read more about Knowles at the Robbins Nest, Laurel Hollow Park, and Vintage Eve’s.


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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Keys Events Styles a Beautiful Blue and White Shoot

This year we have participated in at least eight styled shoots – perhaps a record for us – and we have benefited from the wonderful photographs shared with us by a host of talented photographers. Today’s shoot was courtesy of Monique of Keys Events and Tierney Riggs Photography.

The blue and white theme paired with our vintage amethyst goblets and natural wood pieces is one of our favorites! We also love CE Rental’s blue and white tablecloth, which proves that too much of a good thing can be grand!

Thanks, Monique, for showcasing our vintage goods in your lovely shoot. We look forward to showing these to our clients! Be sure to check out Keys Events!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Three Reasons Why You Should Serve Your Specialty Drink in Something Special!

Pipers Photography

A popular party trend is to offer guests a speciality drink, oftentimes a drink loved by the host, guest of honor, or bride and groom. Whether it’s a non-acoholic refreshing beverage or a spirited one, these can reflect the personality of the host or guests and even the color palette of the occasion!

What can make this drink even more special? Serving it up in a beautiful vintage goblet, of course! Not totally convinced? Then let us convince you with these three reasons why you should.

First, consider the frozen speciality drink. Offering that frozen margarita or sangria in a petite clear goblet means that your guests will enjoy the delightful frozenness before it melts. Another upside is more guests can be served at once. The only hitch is that some will be back in line for more so keep that blender humming! 🙂

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental
Pipers Photography

Secondly, to add to the festiveness of the party, the drink color will shine! With our classic clear vintage champagne glasses and petite goblets, that gorgeous blue, pink, or yellow will mesmerize your guests as they enjoy your delicious beverage. We promise that they will ooh-and-ahhh over their sweetness!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
September Photography

Thirdly, if you plan to serve up a large crowd, go classic with our beautiful vintage punch bowls. In addition to 3 clear and 2 milk glass bowls, we also have a wonderful collection of vintage punch cups that will coordinate nicely, but if these don’t suit your affair, consider those petite goblets instead!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Jacob Landon Photography
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Spirited or not, your speciality drink deserves a special goblet or glass. In addition to the lovely clear petite goblets, we have petite goblets in a variety of colors. (There’s no photo of these colored ones, but we’ll add it to this post soon.)

As you see, we have lots to offer and are ready to help you serve up your speciality drinks at your next occasion!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – Two Weeks In, Two Weeks to Go

This week we’ve been emptying shelves, disassembling shelves, moving shelves, re-assembling shelves, and finally, filling shelves. (Thank you, Priscilla!) We love these shelves because they are heavy-duty and easily to re-configure, but they also are very heavy and sometimes difficult to assemble. But, with the help of Aud and Sean, they are in and ready for their vintage inventory!

Looking forward to filling these shelves and sharing our progress next week!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – The Launching of “Today’s Pretty Thing”

First, a move update! Stacking, packing, curating, and even breaking 🙁 describe the week as we began our move to the new location. Progress has been made with the generous help of Rowena, Priscilla, Jami, Louise, Jeff, and Aud, but there’s much much more to be done. Enthusiasm is still high even with sore muscles and a few new aches.

But, this week’s blog will be kicking off a new social media feature, “Today’s Pretty Thing.” When friends and former co-workers Judy and Sherry came to visit our shop before we started to dismantle, Judy admired a pretty piece of china and had a terrific idea for us! She suggested that we regularly feature pretty vintage pieces on our social media. Needless to say, we thought this was a brilliant idea! We’ll be posting these on Instagram and Facebook during the week and we’ve got a lot of pretty things to share!

So here’s our first “Today’s Pretty Thing.” It’s a chocolate pot, a tall and slender vessel with a spout close to the top, used to serve hot chocolate. The gold trim, hand painted crown of florals in pinks and blues, and styled handle make this a gorgeous and useful serving piece.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

The mark on the bottom says Nippon, the Japanese word for Japan, which dates it from 1881 to 1921. If you’d like to learn more about the history of hot chocolate and chocolate pots, read this Jane Austin’s blog, “Hot Chocolate, 18th-19th Century Style.”

Be on the lookout for “Today’s Pretty Thing” on our Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Hope you have a great week! You know what we’ll be doing!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – The Move Is On!

We have one month to do it and we are totally excited – we are moving! The big reveal will be next month but, in the meantime, we are relocating all of this . . .

. . . to this space! Instead of one open room, the new studio will have three rooms to design and fill.

Thank goodness we have kind friends and family who will be helping us because there’s a lot of vintage coolness to pack up! One thing is certain – It’s going to be amazing when we are finished!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – 5 Reasons To Host a Tea Party!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Whether it’s the pretty vintage china, yummy tea and treats, or having fun with friends and family, the classic tea party is always a winner! If you are wondering why hosting a tea party is a such fabulous idea, here are 5 reasons that will convince you that your guests will love it!


~ Reason 1:  Tea parties are relaxing and festive affairs. ~

Sipping tea with friends and family may be one of the most relaxing ways to celebrate a special occasion. Whether it is a bridal or baby shower, birthday celebration, mother-daughter affair, holiday gathering, or an afternoon visiting with friends, a tea party creates calming moments of elegance we all enjoy.

~ Reason 2:  Teacups are exquisite, Delicate, and should be enjoyed! ~

We have many, many different patterns, colors, and styles of teacups. On display, these vintage teacups create a beautiful array which instantly launches the party atmosphere. Southern Vintage Table has more than 200 vintage teacups and we love every one of them.

~ Reason 3 – Tea serving pieces are beautiful and unique.~

Speciality tea serving pieces are fun to share with your guests. Vintage tea pots are as lovely as teacups, coming in a plethora of colors, shapes, and styles. Then there’s the classic tiered stand – it might be two tiers or three or even a tidbit tray or metal stand with individual plates – nonetheless, they display your treats in such a delightful way. There are vintage lemon dishes, curd and jam dishes, sugar and creamers, cake stands, and platters. All create a splendid sight on guest or buffet tables.

~ Reason 4:  Tea party treats are yummy. ~

A typical menu for a tea party includes a wonderful mix of finger food, such as delicious bites of tea sandwiches, petit fours, fresh fruit, and, our favorite, scones with lemon curd and jam. Other menu options include soups, nuts, the classic southern cheese straws, and small cupcakes. A choice of a cold beverage is always appropriate to offer your guests such as water, champagne, or even a tea cocktail.

~ Reason 5:  We can help. ~

Plan the menu, gather the flowers, and we can help with the rest. From vintage teacups to vintage lace overlays, we have the essentials and they are now listed on our updated “Tea Party Elements & Packages” page.  We also are featuring two specially priced packages for you to consider as well as an ala carte listing.

So, pick a date, make your guest list, decide on your menu, and give us a call. It’s time to relax, sip tea, and enjoy the moment with friends!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

For fun, check out this recent article from the UK’s Daily Mail for advice on official tea party etiquette.  Personally, we love petite cupcakes with tea so we’re officially ignoring that one!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – The Charm of Vintage Tins

Today’s post is an update from 5 years ago! When writing about the charm of vintage tins, we believed our clients would love and appreciate their beauty as we did. Voila – many did and below you’ll see photos of how sweet they look filled with flowers, cookies, or just by themselves!

So, here’s our updated version from February, 2014 with a few new photos sprinkled in as well as SVT’s new logo at the close!


Southern Vintage Table

We have fallen in love with another vintage item – tea, candy and biscuit tins. Tins, as they are called because of the tin-covered steel sheets they are made from, vary in colors, patterns, shapes, lids and sizes. The ones we have collected for Southern Vintage Table are simply charming!

A flat tin is perfect as a stand for just about anything!  With a set of bar glasses, a stack of plates, a vintage greeting card or a plate of cupcakes, these tins add color and history to the table.  Of course, you also can put things inside, like your forks, spoons and knives or cookies!

The vibrant colors of these tins are amazing!  Notice the different types of lids on this set of vintage tins.

This classic blue and white vintage tin is pretty both inside and out. When we picked this up from the thrift store shelf, an employee said to be sure to open it up.  The inside of the lid is also decorated – a small built-in tray!

We discovered that many of these are probably from the 40s-50s and up to the 70s. Filled with candies, cookies and teas, they became popular items in gift shops and department stores. The majority of our collection has a “Made in England” mark but there are some from Holland, Germany, and America. A few have no mark at all. One thing is certain about these lovelies; they have decorative and even functional uses on the vintage table!

These lovely vintage tins once held delicious things for us to enjoy. Now, decades later, they continue to enchant us with their sweetness and charm.  Add a little vintage delight with our vintage tins from Southern Vintage Table!

Here are a few resources about vintage tins.
What to Look for When Collecting Vintage Tins
Celebrated Biscuit Tins
Biscuit Tin – Wikipedia


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC
Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – New Vintage Patterns from Europe and the US

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

We are always on the hunt for new vintage patterns to add to our collections and we’d like to introduce you to some of our newcomers! Most of them we found at local thrift stores but we also had a few gifted to us. How sweet is that? These new patterns hail from England, Austria, France, Bavaria, and the US.

The patterns above are rich with colors and we love each one of them. From the top left, the makers are Salem China from USA, Royal Bayreuth from Bavaria, Mason’s from England, and Trischenreuth, also from Bavaria.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Now, who doesn’t love vintage patterns with delicate florals? These four beauties are from several different countries. Starting at the top left, we have Knowles China from the US, Union Ceramique from France, Haviland from France, and Karlsbad from Austria.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rentals NC

These colorful four patterns look so nice together! The two on the right are from England, Johnson Brothers and Royal Dalton. The two on the left are from potteries in the US, Vernon Kilns and Knowles China, both of which are no longer in business.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

This last set of four are a bit atypical of china patterns with their hues of brown. We love how they look together – add a brown and amber goblet to the table, and you have a terrific look! All of these ironstone patterns are from England – the top two are Mason’s, the bottom left is Johnson Brothers, and the bottom right is Staffordshire.

Mixing and matching china patterns presents a beautiful, interesting table for your guests whether it’s a wedding reception, bridal shower, a holiday meal, or a dinner party.  Give us a call or send an email through our Contact page. We’d love to hear from you!


Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Vintage Feature – The “Magic” Behind Vintage Blue Ridge China

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

We found Peggy first – this quaint dessert dish with a single pink flower. We thought it was special because of its simplicity but didn’t know it was a Blue Ridge Southern Potteries’ pattern until much later. In fact, we had never heard of Blue Ridge pottery!

Now we understand why folks love to collect these quaint patterns. The history behind this unique style of dishware is a great American story about a once thriving pottery in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee.  Although our current inventory of Blue Ridge is limited, our appreciation at Southern Vintage Table for this American-made china is growing!

The story begins in the early 1900s when a railroad company sold a large parcel of land along their railroad line in Erwin, Tennessee to a group of investors. There were rich deposits of kaolinite and feldspar nearby, perfect ingredients for a pottery business. According to Wikipedia, in 1916 Clinchfield Potteries opened their doors for business, manufacturing the typical china style of the times which were described as “gold-trimmed, decal-decorated dishes”.

blue ridge logo

In the 1920s the business was sold and became known as Southern Potteries. To set his style of china apart from his competitors, the new owner introduced a hand painted, underglaze technique. The bold, new patterns, painted by the local women, were stamped with the new label, Blue Ridge, sometime during the 1930s.

Young ladies, some as young as fifteen, came down from the mountains to be trained as painters at the pottery. Men were taught how to mold the shapes and do the firing. Some of the young ladies were so talented that they were allowed to paint what are called Artists Signed Plates. These are rare, but wonderful to own. Others were content being part of a team who sat in hard chairs around a table and painted for many hours each day. One might paint a flower on the bisque plate while another would add a stem and leaves. A third might paint an edge around the plate and so on until the plate was finished and put in the stack to be fired and glazed.  (blueridgechina.com)

Bright colors and big designs are hallmarks of Blue Ridge patterns. Here are four dinner plate patterns in our inventory at Southern Venture Table.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NCThis pattern is called Stanhome Ivy.  It was a pattern made in 1947 for Stanley Home Products and given as a gift to the hostess when she held a party featuring their wares. Avon cosmetics and Quaker Oats also gave Blue Ridge china to salespeople and consumers to boost sales of their own products.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

The big bold flower patterns are our favorite designs, especially the yellow ones. These vintage dessert plates are simply charming!

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

Due to a shortage of imports during WWII, business boomed for Southern Potteries. After the war ended, however, cheaper china imports returned to the American market and plastic dinnerware hit the stores. The competition was tough on Southern Potteries and their business dramatically fell. After designing over 4000 different patterns, Southern Potteries finally closed its doors in 1957 and, according to Blue Ridge-SPI,  “the magic was gone.”  I love that quote.

Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC

These vintage American-made hand painted patterns are available at Southern Vintage Table in limited amounts but we are actively looking to add to our collection!  As we admire these hand painted beauties, we have a vision of women, brushes in hand, artfully painting and sharing a little of themselves with every stroke of their brush. Invite Southern Vintage Table to share some vintage magic with your guests at your next event!

Here are more resources about the now-collectable Blue Ridge china!
Blue Ridge Pottery China Dinnerware Pottery Southern Potteries
Blue Ridge – SPI
Blue Ridge (dishware) – Wikipedia
The Erwin National Pottery Club

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Southern Vintage Table Vintage China Rental NC