Vintage Red Cliff Ironstone Grape Coffee Pot, Sugar W/Lid, Creamer White c70’s USA

Description:  You are bidding on a set of (3) Vintage Red Cliff Ironstone Grape Coffee Pot, Sugar W/Lid, Creamer White c70’s USA.

About Red Cliff:

Fred Clifford started the Red-Cliff Company in Chicago, Illinois, in the late 1950’s. He purchased pieces of antique English ironstone and had the Hall China Company in East Liverpool, Ohio, make reproductions. Some of those antique pieces were bought from Mrs. Pauline Meisen-Helter of York, Pennsylvania, an early dealer/collector of ironstone. The Hall China Co. made the molded pieces and the hollow ware, but the Walker China Co. of Bedford Heights, Ohio, made some of the flat ware such as dishes, plates and platters. Almost all pieces are marked with a printed Red-Cliff mark. There was no attempt at deception since the lion and unicorn or other English-looking “antique” marks were not used, unlike the practice of some of the earlier American ironstone potters. Mr. Clifford must have run his company very frugally because his catalogs had no flashy photographs, only line drawings of each piece and the same drawings were used in the 1962 catalog as in the 1976 catalog. Red-Cliff retail catalogs began with a brief history of English ironstone china and called their new wares a modern reproduction ironstone with alterations. A fully vitrified body fired at 2,400 degrees which makes it oven, microwave and dishwasher-proof. This process also makes it “craze-proof” and nearly stain-proof because the clay is not at all porous. To an experienced eye, Red-Cliff ware does not look like early English or American ironstone because of its creamy-white rather than blue-white color. Modern production techniques of one-piece slip-poured molds, rather than slabs of clay hand pressed into separate molds, surely are the reason these copies are not like the originals. In some pieces it seems they made exact casts right off the antiques. But in others, they elongated or widened the shapes and even substituted different handles. The most “wrong looking” pieces are complete fabrications. Mr. Clifford apparently found a T. & R. Boote 1851 Octagon teapot with a Sydenham lid, which meant that his reproduction was wrong from the start. Not having a sugar or creamer, he simply had Hall China make a small teapot for a creamer and created a sugar bowl by eliminating the pour spout and adding another ring handle. He finished the set off by adding a tray for the sugar and creamer to appeal to the 1950’s homemaker. Red-Cliff catalogs advertised over a dozen different soup tureens, a half dozen dinner services, tea sets, condiments, lavabos, footbaths, candlesticks and even matching pressed pattern glassware for the Sydenham Shape among others. Recently Red-Cliff reproduction ironstone has become a collectable china. We did this article because we’ve been told by many members that they believed Red Cliff was real old ironstone and in many cases they paid the price of an antique. Red-Cliff is modern ware and should not be sold as an antique. The pieces shown here are from members’ collections. Some are shown with the illustrations and prices taken from one of the original catalogs

Condition:  There are no chips or cracks however there is a “black” under glaze marking on the handle of the creamer (see pic# 5 for best detail), a mold flaw on the pedestal base of the sugar (see pic# 11 for best detail) and the set is in very good shiny used estate condition. 

Marks:  See pics

Dimensions:   (essjkhu ref # 9002858)

The Creamer is 4.5” spout to handle x 3.5” wide x 6” high

The Sugar is 6” handle to handle x 4” wide x 5” high

The Coffee Pot is 9.5” spout to handle x 6.5” wide x 10” high

Comments:  Great addition / replacement for your Red Cliff Ironstone collection.

Purchase more than one item in the same day and they will be combined to save postage.  Email for details.

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