Royal China introduced the Currier & Ives Dinnerware in 1951 and it was wildly successful right from the beginning - not only as a Grocery Store premium, but also later on as its own Dinnerware Line which was sold in many retail stores, including some larger department stores.

The Royal China Company itself has a very fascinating history dating back to 1934 and owes it's founding to an incredible woman named Beatrice, (Bee) Miller, (1899-1979).

Bee or "Queen Bee" as she was known to her friends, employees and associates - was a business woman who was decades ahead of her time. As a founder in 1934 and later President of the Royal China Company, Ms. Miller was also the main Royal China Salesperson and the public face of the company right up until the original sale of the company to Jeannette Glass in 1969. She traveled the country selling Royal China Dinnerware and even appeared on TV shows and in Home Magazines.

Because of the popularity in the 1950’s of Royal China's Currier & Ives Dinnerware and the continuing historical interest in Currier & Ives artwork - other Ceramic and Dinnerware companies came out with similar, but slightly different versions of the Currier & Ives dinnerware to try and ride the wave of popularity of the Royal China Products.

Homer Laughlin, SCIO Pottery, Mount Clemens Pottery and Taylor, Smith Taylor were just a few of the larger names that produced Dinnerware that featured the Currier & Ives prints. While they all featured the same or similar Currier & Ives artwork as the main part of the Pattern, each design was just different enough to have kept the copycat company out of legal trouble with The Royal China Company.

None of the copycat products were anywhere nearly as successful as the Royal China version, but pieces from most of the companies mentioned can be easily found today. They are often erroneously marketed by less knowledgeable Sellers as official Royal China Currier & Ives items and in fact, some of the Patterns do look very similar and can sometimes fool a newer collector.

The best and most accurate source of information on the Royal China Company and the Currier and Ives Dinnerware Collection can be found in the book: "Royal China Co. Sebring, Ohio" 2005 by David J. Folckemer and Deborah G. Folckemer. It is out of print at this point, but copies can still be found online. We actually have a signed copy of the book in our office library.

David and Deborah were long time Royal China and Currier & Ives collectors, (25 years at the time of publishing of their book in 2005) and also previously founded the Currier and Ives Dinnerware Collectors Club in 1996, (still in existence today). They did extensive research into Royal China over many years and their book is still considered the bible in regards to Collecting Currier & Ives Dinnerware.

We do come across the other versions of the Currier & Ives Dinnerware, (mentioned above and including the SCIO, Mount Clemens and Taylor Smith Taylor versions) but to maintain purity in regards to Royal China we always sell them separately under the correct Manufacturer’s name and usually also add a note in the description to avoid confusion with the actual Royal China Currier & Ives items by our Customers.

Click here to see all available Royal China Currier & Ives items

Click here to see ALL Royal China Patterns and available items

Click here to all SCIO Currier & Ives Items, (if available)

Click here to see Taylor Smith Taylor Currier & Ives Items, (if available)