White House China - Who Had the Best Taste in Plates?

From 2023 with more poll.

Also from 2023 with less poll.

I assume Mamie used Melmac.

Trump's fanciest china ( although no one is allowed to say " china" in the WH). It's so fitting.

I hate anything Trump.

My favorites were the Johnson and Reagan patterns.

Why didn’t Jackie Kennedy didn’t have own set, considering she was renovating the White House?

[quote] Why didn’t Jackie Kennedy didn’t have own set, considering she was renovating the White House?

Well, um.

Jackie unified and modernized the White House Crystal to most accommodate the needs of a State Menu.

Also, because she was a debutante who placed the investment of her trousseau according to durability, she valued sterling over china over crystal. That is why she chose Morgantown as the crystal maker and the most simple of patterns for the White House.

I think I read somewhere that Jackie was planning a china service (they typically take deep into a two-term presidency to design and manufacture) when Jack was killed.

She also had the Oval Office redecorated during their Texas trip, and he was supposed to be surprised with it when they returned from Dallas.

Barbara Bush preferred Chinet paper plates as she felt they matched the caftsns and flip flops she liked to wear. Fortunately, she was outvoted.

Yet, she had the best Q-tips!

Trump's China would have to be orange rim with his signature in the middle of the plate. Klassy

It will be. With 84 carot gold trim.

Where is the Carter china?

R14 The Carters weren't in office long enough to consider it a priority. Also, Rosalynn loved the Lincoln china, and used it at their DOZENS of state dinners held over four years.

I can only imagine Jackie's horror when she was given her first tour of the White House kitchen and saw the shelves full of cans of parslied potato balls and string beans that Mamie had left behind.

And good for her! Frugal, yet with a level of taste.

That was for RC, not ME^

I really like the Obama china. That's my favorite shade of blue.

Aloha!

The Rutherford B. Hayes service, made by Havilland in 1879-1880.

These porcelain serving pieces were made for the White House by Haviland and Co. of New York City and Limoges, France, in 1879. President Rutherford B. Hayes purchased them as part of a state dinner service that featured elaborate designs conceived by American artist Theodore Russell Davis. First Lady Lucy Hayes had planned to select a floral pattern for the White House service when she had a chance meeting with Davis. Davis suggested that instead she opt for depictions of flora and fauna native to North America, and Mrs. Hayes agreed. She commissioned Davis as the designer, and he produced 130 distinct decorations for the 562 piece service.

The Snowshoe Ice Cream dishes alone make it a favorite.

Pieces from the service occasionally surface on the market. The Snoeshoe plates commmand anywhere from $8,000-12,000.

[quote]I hate anything Trump.

But, you must see the china.

R21 Hayes destroyed Reconstruction as a craven move to secure the presidency. Are you happy to accept fine china in exchange for a shitstorm of Jim Crow + de facto segregation from 1877 until LBJ succeeding in passing the CRA and the VRA.

Really?!

Trump can use the Orange Madison service, or he can have a special run of Rosenthal Magic Flute gold run for him.

Gold and white.

r24:

Really?

You can hate the politics but love the china.

On one of the Lincoln dinner plates, you can still see scratches in the gold leaf where Betty Ford took a razor blade to it.

^^She needed some "help" to keep the booze going.

[quote]She also had the Oval Office redecorated during their Texas trip, and he was supposed to be surprised with it when they returned from Dallas.

And it looked like hell. It had a hideous bright red rug that was removed early on. If that office is an example of her personal best taste, it sucked. I still miss the drapery style that was in the Oval from at least Truman (Roosevelt?) through the new Kennedy mess. (each of the 3 windows treated separately)

The State rooms whose restoration for which she was responsible were quite good; the Blue Room most especially. The designer Stéphane Boudin of Maison Jansen in Paris played a role, I think, in that stage of the restoration.

"Jackie Kennedy imitated my voice when she toured the White House on TV" - Jayne Mansfield

Mine. After that excursion to Greece, I brought back and introduced my infamous yet praised soup tureen in the image of a porcelain-hen Christina Onassis, tee-hee!

Where do you get to see all the White House state dinner services? There were just a couple of dozen in the link above. Of those I preferred the Taylor.

What’s the oldest set that is still used?

Monroe

Don’t they teach this in school anymore?

Melania wanted a ping pong ball and female nude gold plate pattern, so the project was scrapped.

I like Polk and Taylor. Where is the Kennedy set?

The Eisenhower set is also quite nice