Information gathered from press releases picked up at the World Plate Collectors Fair, recently held at the Statler Hilton:
“These are not plates to be eaten off, but to be admired, to be traded, to be acquired—often for surprisingly-large sums of money.”
“Plate collecting bids fair to become THE investment vehicle of the 1980s.”
“Between the two World Wars, the Christmas plate business waxed strong in Europe, and might never have spread to the United States had it not been for the returning G.I.s in 1945 and 1946.”
“Demand for plates really began in 1969, when Bing & Grondahl issued its now famous ‘Dog and Puppies’ Mother’s Day plate.”
“What do artists Edna Hibel, Ted deGrazia, Mary Vickers, Dolores Valenza, James Wyeth, Leroy Neiman, Ole Winther,
John McClelland, and Prescott Baston have in common other than their oils, brushes, and canvas? They are all members of a revered pantheon of painters whose works are being bought up by plate collectors faster than you can say Leonardo da Vinci (who to the best of anyone’s knowledge is not represented on any plate—yet).”
“New plate issues don’t ‘react’ to world events like another threat from OPEC the way new stock issues do.”
“John Wayne, Kate Smith, Muhammad Ali, and Betty Ford are avid plate collectors, as are 4.5 million other Americans.”
“Rarity: Is the edition tightly limited yet not too limited to create a market? If the edition is closed, are dealers bidding in the secondary market? Collectibility: Is it one, preferably the first, of a collectible periodic series or merely a single issue? Time of Acquisition: Can you get it at the right time—at issue—or while the price is still rising? Sponsorship: Is it issued in association with a government or an official non-profit institution? Commemorative importance: Does it commemorate a seasonal event or a historic event? If so, does it bring new insight to the event? Or is it an event in the history of the artist or of the maker?”
We ourself saw plates with single flower, bouquet of flowers, old ships docked in Boston Bay, children playing in snow, woman holding child on knee, man holding child on knee, Judy Garland in Wizard of Oz dress, frog having dinner with a handsome man and a handsome woman, man mending clock, street scene in Paris, signs of the zodiac, Virgin Mary, Japanese women, ship caught in a fierce storm, blue jays resting on
a tree branch, cardinals resting on a tree branch, Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara.
We saw no plates of incredible beauty, but we liked all plates that had illustrations by Norman Rockwell.
We can’t see why people collect plates. Can’t see why people collect anything.
—October 9, 1978