Spode Blue Italian Teacup and Saucer, Set of 4

 

I was expecting it to be Made in England since I have plates, tea pot that were made there. I was extremely disappointed it is made in China but didn’t want the hassle of returning. I have always wanted to own this blue Italian design. For the $82 price I paid, I didn’t expect it to be made in China.

 

Reading the reviews on here I wasn’t sure what I would receive today, but nothing was broken and there weren’t any major flaws that screamed obvious seconds.

The makers of Portmeirion now own Spode and have (by now) largely moved production back to the UK from China, so consider the date of the review when reading about past issues, and if you end up with one of these obviously flawed pieces from the past, simply return it.

On these pieces received today (February 2020) there were three, sometimes four small rounded bumps on the underside of each saucer.

I asked Spode about these bumps on Facebook and here’s what they said:

“Some of our flatware pieces (saucers, plates) are placed onto pins for support after they have been glazed. This leaves a small mark on the back – the bumps you are referring to. We believe all flatware made in Stoke-on-Trent, that does not have a bone china body, has been made this way for over 70 years. A process that’s perhaps unique to this area. Many thanks, Spode”

(Note, Portmeirion’s Botanic Garden pattern has the same bumps on saucers and plates, at least in the “romantic” shape saucer which has a rounded bowl teacup shape instead of the original drum tea cup shape.)

The four Spode cups were shipped in a box with a four section cardboard divider for the cups, and then sitting on top of the tops of the cups were the saucers. The saucers only had a thin piece of cardboard in between each saucer and the tops of the cups, but in my case this proved sufficient. (I can totally see how these might arrive broken, however.)

Unlike the tea caddy in the same pattern I bought a month ago, these pieces were made in England. If you hold any piece made in England up against the caddy made in China, the white of the porcelain is slightly more gray on the pieces from China. I think you have to be looking for it, though, and actually the slightly gray white with the blue looks a little more elegant (just as nowadays Pillivuyt and Apilco are owned by the same company and the Pillivuyt next to the Apilco looks slightly gray and just a bit more elegant).

As I understand it, the Portmeirion Group has moved MOST production back to the UK from china (cups, saucers, plates, sugar, creamer, tea pot, for instance), but at this time SOME pieces in this collection are still made in China. They say which ones for each item on their web site, and I believe the reason for this (for now) is to keep costs down on pieces that have a high loss rate and which would otherwise be much costlier to produce and buy.

Eventually all production may be back in the UK, but for now you can check on their web site.

I bought these specifically to use in the garden because I think with boxwood hedges and so on the blue and white “comes to life,” whereas inside (to me) it looks dull and dowdy. (This set when used on Downton Abbey was selected for Maggie Smith’s kitchen staff, not the “upstairs” characters.)

Since usually I have tea sets from Herend, Haviland, Limoges, et al., to me these seem a bit more heavy in comparison, but they’re also considerably less expensive, so I don’t really worry if anything breaks with these.

If you do break something though, a cup, a saucer, a plate a bowl, you can’t just replace the one item, you have to buy a set of four. But the set is fairly inexpensive compared to other China, and this actually keeps prices down, so at this price point, think of it as buying a replacement and getting a few spares to cover future breakage.

I can also say that the tea pot (also received today) pours pretty well, but like all tea pots with a porcelain spout, there’s always a tiny drip that drops when you stop pouring, so this set is best used on a tray rather than on a tablecloth. (Also, even though there is a small drip after pouring, compared to other porcelain tea sets I’ve used it seems minimal here.)

All in all quite an inexpensive set for such an historic name and pattern, and, again, I’m happy to have it for the garden and to have a set I can break without “shedding any tears.”

As for the reviewer who thought the size too small, I have lots and lots of much better quality fine china in multiple patterns from various producers, and this tea pot is slightly LARGER in capacity than average. It’s at least 4 1/2 cups from a Pyrex measuring cup (that’s a lot of tea cups of tea from this for 2-4 people).

When considering this set overall, you might want to know that the tea pot dissipates heat a little faster than any other tea pot (fine china, glass, stainless) I’ve used over the years, so with this one you might want to consider a tea cosy (something I’ve never even considered before this pot). I like to while away an hour or so with afternoon tea and the pot with this set will be colder faster, somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes compared to an hour for most any other.

 

I couldn’t believe my luck. My set arrived intact and each cup and saucer was produced in England. Only a few days before writing this review, I received the sandwich tray…and that was made in China. And I griped about it. But…here’s the kicker… the sandwich tray has a crisper print and more depth of color when I placed the cups and saucers next to it for comparison. Overall, I’m pretty happy with my Spode Blue Italian purchases.

 

This was purchased as a gift for my wife and she loves it. It arrived packaged carefully and is another beautiful set from the Spode collection to add to hers.