Peacocks represent luxury, beauty, glamour, royalty and integrity... 

{HISTORY}

A rare find, these beautiful vintage dinner plates were made for the restaurant industry by Mayer China in the 1930s.  Featuring the Stratford pattern and stamped with Mayer's True Ivory mark these plates feature an interesting arrangement of shapes, flowers and symbolism. Very similar to Spode's Peacock on stone pattern, this design is comprised of a Chinese pattern designed for the export market. Featuring birds and florals, it contains a gorgeous arrangement of colors that is both at once familiar and exotic.

Many restaurant ware patterns were designed for specific venues, giving modern-day dish lovers a glimpse into unique dining experiences of the past. Although these pates are unmarked, as to a specific restaurant these plates, we did find a reference to this pattern included in the stock of the Hotel McCourt in McPherson, Kansas.

In the 1930s, Hotel McCourt boasted exotic flair containing rooms decorated with far-flung travel in mind. Two examples were the Mandarin Room and the Persian Room,  both decorated with cultural accent pieces and discerning style in mind. Dishes like this Stratford pattern with its Asian themes, would have been most at home there. 

We do not know if this particular set of dishes came from the Hotel McCourt specifically but we included this info and a photo of the hotel here to highlight the types of 20th-century establishments where this pattern would have lived among the dining room serving sets. Restaurant ware is so fun that way - offering up unique stories and glimpses into the past, not just about dish patterns but also the people and places they served.

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

- Set of five matching dinner plates

- Colors include raspberry, mauve, peacock blue, cobalt blue, pale lemon yellow, sage green, pine green, chocolate, mustard, pale pink, mauve, navy blue, grey, peach and  espresso

- Rare pattern

- Each plate is stamped with maker's mark and pattern name

{CONDITION}

In beautiful vintage condition. There are no chips or cracks. there is one indention mark on the backside of one plate that looks like a small chip but is actually a manufacturing mark that occurred when the plate was held in place in the kiln (please see photo). The glaze s very shiny on all plates and the designs are crisp and bright. There are a few errant utensil marks as expected with vintage restaurant ware but these are very light and barely noticeable. Overall they are in gorgeous shape.

{SIZE}

Each plate measures 9.75" inches in diameter and weighs 1.9 lbs. Combined this set of plates weighs just under 8 lbs.