Large set of Friendly Village dinnerware
I just acquired a beautiful set of Johnson Brothers Friendly Village dishes. It is a pretty brown transferware pattern that has been in production since 1953. It was made in England until 2003, since then it has been made in China. You can tell which location it was made in by the backstamp. The old backstamp read “Made in England by Johnson Bros”. The new backstamp reads “Johnson Bros England 1883″. The set I just bought was made in England, all the pieces have the older back stamp.
Either way, it is such a nice set for Autumn and Winter with the New England Village type scenes and the brown border of leaves. In some households it is a popular pattern for Thanksgiving dinner. Others like to use it as everyday dishes from Fall until the end of Winter. It is ironstone, so it is fairly sturdy and dishwasher safe.
There are 2 other variations of this pattern, one is the 50 year Anniversary pattern, produced in 2003. It is has a 50 Year Anniversary banner on each plate. The other variation is the Christmas pattern. It has the same border, but has Christmas scenes in the center, some with a decorated Christmas tree next to a fireplace, others are outdoor scenes.
For many years this pattern was available through the Betty Crocker catalog and was fun to collect piece by piece.
This pattern has a large assortment of scenes, and each scene is identified in the backstamp. Some of the individual pieces were available in a variety of scenes, while the serving pieces were not produced with any variations. The scenes are of fall, winter, spring and summer in the country, with names such as Covered Bridge, Stone Wall, Old Mill, Hayfield, Schoolhouse, Village Green, Autumn Mists and The Well.
If you are interested in adding pieces to your collection, need to replace a broken dish or just want a few pieces to display, check out what I have available in my eBay store: AuntJanesAttic
Old Style Backstamp
Square Salad Plate - Covered Bridge