My friend was taping a "flow blue" platter of Davenport to get it's
size and there was an interesting mark "Henderson & Gaines 45 Canal
St., New Orleans" on it along with the "Persian Birds" pattern from
1844 and the anchor stamp of the Davenport firm. I plugged it into
Google, the New Orleans listing and found this listing that helps
explain some of the "Queensware" from the time of its use, a newspaper
article from then:

Block & Son Offers Variety of Goods To People All Over Hempstead County

WASHINGTON - Abraham Block stood in his store here on this October day
of 1844. He looked out through the front windows across Frankim Street
to the courthouse. That two-story building was nine years old, but he
remembered that before the new courthouse was built, the grand jury
had to meet in a room in Block's own store.

There wasn't much going on at the courthouse today, but he knew that
soon circuit court was going to begin and that would bring in
customers from all over Hempstead County. Everybody likes a good
trial. And when people came to town for court, they would also bring
their money and shop in Washington stores for supplies.

In his hand Block held the copy for his next advertisement in the
Washington Telegraph:

"NEW GOODS! The undersigned is now receiving and opening at the old
stand of Block & Son, a large and well selected stock of goods,
consisting in part of the following: Dry Goods, Groceries, Queensware,
Hardware, Hats, Boots, Shoes, Clothing, Saddlery, Stationery, Tinware,
&c, &c."

Block knew that people appreciated his wide variety of goods for sale.
He and his wife Fannie had always felt that a good business should be
ready to provide what customers needed. That is why they had opened
the tannery and the sawmill, and why he served as a commission agent
for cotton dealers in New Orleans.

It was through his New Orleans connections that he had developed a
satisfying relationship with the firm of Henderson and Gaines of 45
Canal Street The Block family store sold good quality tableware to the
planters and farmers and working people of the Red River Valley. It
was not the expensive dishes, since anyone who could afford the best
French or English china went straight to New Orleans or New York
anyway.

The Blocks wanted to give their customers dishes they could afford,
"Queensware," as it was called. Henderson
and Gaines provided Block with the right dishes, because the New
Orleans firm had a direct connection to an English factory, the
Davenport firm of Longport in Staffordshire.

Davenport produced brightly printed tea sets and coffee sets. light
blue scenic patterns sold well, and so did the wide
range of printed patterns in purples, greens, reds, and even the
old-fashioned dark blues. The painted and dark-brown mocha wares were
a little cheaper but still looked good. And all of these looked good
on the Blocks' own table, too.

The storeowner was impressed and pleased that Davenport even went to
the trouble of marking their own products with the additional mark of
Henderson and Gaines. When those dishes sold in Block's store, the
customer could see the lineage of these fine wares, straight from
England to New Orleans to Block & Son. And the customer learned once
again of the integrity and pride of the Blocks. The claim that ended
his newest advertisement was no idle boast:

"The above articles have been selected with great care, and embrace a
large variety of new and splendid goods,
which the public are respectfully invited to call and examine before
purchasing elsewhere."

- "The Arkansas News" (c) Old State House - Arkansas Commemorative Commission
Edition of April 1996 p. 2, The Arkansas News is published
periodically by the Old State House Museum. Old State House, 300 West
Markham, little Rock, Arkansas 72201, ISSN 0882-973X