Q. The enclosed picture is of a lovely old plate that has been in my wife’s family for years. It is 11 1/2 inches in diameter and it has a 5/8 inch silver ring around the outside. The trademark on the back indicates it was made by Minton of England. Can you provide anyadditional information?
–G. H. Hogrewe, Hinsdale
A. Minton is one of England’s oldest and most distinguished potteries. It was founded in 1793 by Thomas Minton in Stoke-on-Trent. Under the direction of Herbert Minton, the founder’s son, the pottery rose to prominence in the mid-19th Century as the finest European producer of bone china.
The heart of the Minton business always has been tableware, but over the years it has produced everything from architectural tile to figural and ornamental ware. Today Minton continues to make high-quality hand-painted tableware and is owned by the Royal Doulton Tableware Group.
If you ever get to England, consider visiting the Minton museum in Stoke-on-Trent (by appointment only; email jmjones@royal-doulton.com).The curator of the museum, Joan Jones, is knowledgeable and friendly, and helped me in researching your piece.
At 11 1/2 inches, your plate is too big to be a regular dinner plate (which would measure 10 1/8 inches), so it was undoubtedly intended to serve food. It might be called a serving dish or “chop” plate.
The name of the pattern is “Princess.” If you are want to acquire more pieces, it helps to know that the pattern number is K109.
The Princess pattern debuted in 1922, and it is unlikely that Minton would have kept it in production for longer than 20 years. Serving dishes were optional for anyone ordering a set of Princess tableware, so that makes the plate a bit uncommon.
Regular Princess dinner plates are usually offered by pattern-matching services in the $50 range, so I value this serving dish at approximately $100 to $150.
Q. I’ve enclosed a photo of a set of four Burger King “Return of the Jedi” glasses from 1983. They are in mint condition with no cracks and scratches. With all the hoopla surrounding the newest Star Wars movies, I was wondering how much these 18-year-old glasses might be worth.
–Andrew Reid, High Point, N.C.
A. The imminent release of “Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones” can be expected to be used to sell toys, action figures, board games, video games, stickers, pins, glasses and other items.The brains behind Star Wars pursued this marketing strategy from the very beginning, when they tied the first “Star Wars” in 1977 to the first wave of “Star Wars” collectibles.
Anything originally sold as a “collectible” (as in “Collect all four!”) is unlikely to ever achieve a high value. With few exceptions, that is the case with “Star Wars” collectibles. The fact that so many people buy them and keep them in good condition guarantees that they will always be plentiful on the market, and therefore cheap.
Your complete set of four “Return of the Jedi” glasses is valued by some sources at about $40, but can sometimes be acquired for as little as $20.
———-
Leslie Hindman is the author of “Adventures at the Auction” and host of two HGTV shows. She welcomes letters but cannot reply to them individually. She answers those of general interest in her column only. Send, by regular mail, photos of objects with identifying marks visible (sorry we cannot return them), a brief history, and daytime phone number to: Home&Garden, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611, Attn: What’s It Worth.
