In 1834, David Haviland was working as a partner at the D.G.& D. Haviland Trading Company. His work included extensive travel between New York and France visiting various porcelain factories and importing their goods to the U S. With each trip his passion for the fine porcelains of the Limoges area of France grew, and his interests in the family import business waned. In 1841, motivated by his vision for a new line of fine French china geared toward the American buying public, he moved his family to Limoges and started his first factory.
Success followed David Haviland to his new endeavor, but with success came controversy. Daring to defy the French tradition of sending blank china to Paris to be painted, David set up a decorating studio within his factory. This did not sit well with the French. They were offended by this young American in their midst, who ignored their traditions. Not only did his factory paint their own china, they also altered their time-honored patterns to make them more Americanized. So radical were Haviland’s ideas, that French artists began to protest outside the factory and the decorators hired by the company often received death threats. Time passed, attitudes mellowed, and the works of the Havilland factory became eventually acceptable to the French populous.
David Haviland’s attitudes broadened with the passage to time. By the mid-1870s, under the direction of his son Charles, some of the company’s most acclaimed work would be produced at the Auteuil studio in Paris. From this era the development came the famous “Haviland Barbotine” line, recognized even today for the contribution it made to the mid-1870s Impressionistic movement in France. This innovation of painting on earthenware with liquid clay attracted the attention of great French artists such as Manet, Monet, and the Damousse brothers. It is great demand among high-end Haviland collectors, appearing rarely at auction and contained mostly within private collections.
After David Haviland’s death in 1879, the firm passed into the hands of his two sons, Theodore Haviland and Charles Edward Haviland. Charles Edward began “Haviland et Cie,” French for “Haviland & Co.,” while Theodore Haviland installed another porcelain producing factory under his name. Charles marketed his china under slogan “Buy Genuine Haviland,” while Theodore Haviland’s work was marked, “Theodore Haviland, Limoges.” Eventually the work of both of companies would become synonymous with the name Haviland China.
In an effort to escape the French porcelain rivalry, Charles Haviland’s son Jean moved to Bavaria in 1907 where he stared the short-lived Johann Haviland Company. It closed in 1924 and the name rights became the property of the Rosenthal Group. In 1941 Theodore Haviland Limoges won exclusive rights to the Haviland & Co. name. In all , more than 60,000 Haviland China patterns were produced from 1841-1972.
Despite it’s high quality, the market value of Haviland, along with most other major brands of fine china, has dropped steadily in value since 2000. Unlike previous generations, today’s buyers take a more casual approach to entertaining. This minimal demand, compounded by a mass supply of porcelain coming available for sale, has resulted in record low prices. Sets of Haviland that were found in antique malls in 1998 for $2,000-$2,500 now are selling at auction for a few hundred dollars, if that.
Will the market see a turn around? I, like many of you, sit with my mother’s fine china in storage and wait. Until next time…Linda
Linda Kennett is a professional liquidation consultant specializing in down-sizing for seniors and the liquidation of estates and may be reached at 317-258-7835 or lkennett@indy.rr.com