Try www.teaLeafClub.com

From their website:

The Tea Leaf Club International, founded in 1980, provides excellent
educational materials regarding Tea Leaf Ironstone China and it's variant
decorative motifs.  Through projects of the Education Committee and its
newsletter, "Tea Leaf Readings", collectors are presented with a wealth of
information not available elsewhere.


Tea Leaf Club membership is approaching 1000 members.  The Club sponsors
regional meetings across the United States in addition to an annual national
convention where knowledgeable speakers present a wide variety of programs
of interest to the Tea Leaf collector.  Table sales and a significant Tea
Leaf auction highlighted the 1999 20th Anniversary Celebration was held in
Peoria IL.  The 2000 annual meeting and convention will be held in Akron,
Ohio in September.


For more information about Tea Leaf, copper lustre-decorated white ironstone
or Tea Leaf Club International membership click here to print out an online
membership application.  ...or email Tea Leaf Antiques with your home
address and I'll send a membership brochure to you.

Bill Liebeknecht
Hunter Research, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
George L. Miller
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 9:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: tea leaf question


      Mark Branstner commented that all of the pieces of Tea Leaf decorated
wares that he has seen in antique shops have included "England" as part of
the mark.  He was wondering if the wares were made before the 1892 McKinley
Tariff required the country of origin to be marked on ceramics.  I have
heard that there is a society of Tea Leaf Collectors but do not have any
information on the group.  There is at least one book on the subject, which
is:

Annise Doring Heaivilin
1981  Grandma's Tea Leaf Ironstone: A History and Study of English and
American Potteries.  Wallace-Homestead Book Co. Des Moines, Iowa.

On the table of contents page in her book, she lists 26 English and 17
American potters that made Tea Leaf style wares.  The list of English
potters has the following potters who were out of business before the 1892
McKinley Tariff.
|--------------------------------+--------------|
| Potter                         | Their end    |
|                                | date         |
|--------------------------------+--------------|
| Baker & Chetwynd Co.           | 1875         |
|--------------------------------+--------------|
| E. & C. Challinor              | 1880         |
|--------------------------------+--------------|
| Davenport                      | 1887         |
|--------------------------------+--------------|
| Elsmore & Foster               | 1887         |
|--------------------------------+--------------|
| Edward Walley                  | 1856         |
|--------------------------------+--------------|



From these dates, it is clear that Tea Leaf had to have been in production
sometime before 1856, however, it is most common seen on sites from the
1890s to ca 1920.

Peace,
George L. Miller
URS Corporation
561 Cedar Lane
Florence, New Jersey 08518
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