Thursday, March 9, 2017

Vintage Finds: Napcoware Bird Plaques

Napcoware, vintage Napcoware, Napcoware bird plaques, collecting Napcoware, Napcoware collector

Hi friends, and welcome to another edition of Vintage Finds!

One of the down-sides of collecting vintage is the disappointment one may feel upon discovering a single item that was originally produced as part of a set, but then being unable to locate its mate. The most common examples of this situation are salt and pepper shakers. How many times have you come across just one and then found yourself searching all the shelves in the charity shop, hoping to reunite the pair? Oh, am I the only one that does that?

Since the beginning of this 'Vintage Finds' blog series, my intention was always to show you a somewhat random selection of my latest finds, mainly because that is how real life works, right? You never know what you'll find and part of the fun is sharing the latest discoveries.

But it just so happens that on one of my latest excursions, I was thrilled to discover the two large Napcoware bird plaques pictured to the left and right above. Some months prior, I acquired the smaller Goldfinch plaque (middle, above) and shared it in a post called Vintage Finds: A Touch of Gold!

Upon finding the Goldfinch plaque, I figured it would be an arbitrary purchase, since it was extremely unlikely that I would ever see any other similar plaques. Even though many ceramic knick knacks were mass produced in the 1950s and 1960s, there now seems to exist a sort of random selection of odd pieces in the second hand shops. So when I saw the Bluejay and Cardinal plaques, sitting together on the shelf, it was a complete surprise. Now it feels a bit like a display of rainbow-colored birds!

Napcoware, vintage Napcoware, Napcoware bird plaques, collecting Napcoware, Napcoware collector
Napcoware, vintage Napcoware, Napcoware bird plaques, collecting Napcoware, Napcoware collector
Napcoware, vintage Napcoware, Napcoware bird plaques, collecting Napcoware, Napcoware collector

There isn't a lot of information here on the web about Napco, or National Potteries Corporation. In its humble beginnings, it started in 1938 as a small manufacturing plant located here in the United States, in Bedford, Ohio, specializing in decorative ceramic home wares. In the post World War II era, like so many other manufacturers in America, the company turned to having their designs manufactured in Japan.

These high quality plaques are rich in color and feature extraordinary details such as the intricate layers of feathers, the scaly texture of the birds' legs, and the natural and wild portrayal of the floral embellishments in the backgrounds. Furthermore, the three dimensional relief provides interest, and the plaques' golden edges fall within the current home decor trend of gold accents around the home.

Thank you for reading another edition of Vintage Finds!


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