At Bristol in 1774 a wonderfully fine tea and coffee set was
made for Edmund Burke, the renowned English orator. In the meantime
all over England small fabriques were springing up. At Pinxton,
Swansea, Coalport, Liverpool and Rockingham; most of these factories
made soft paste chinas. Then came an innovation. One of the most
perfect of English porcelains, known as Spode, was produced by
combining with this type of paste pulverized bones."
"Bones!"
"Yes. It seems a strange idea, doesn't it? But it was a great
discovery, and one that has been generally adopted and used ever since
by the principal china-making firms of England. The bone element, or
phosphate of lime, as it is more properly termed, imparts both
strength and elasticity to the china. Minton ware, first made in 1791
and now extensively manufactured in England and sold throughout the
china-buying world, is one of these bone chinas. It is a great
favorite because of its durability as well as its beauty. There were
in addition many other very fine chinas made in England--far too many
of them for me to enumerate. One was the Lowestoft, made from about
1756 in soft paste, and in 1775 in hard.
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