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May, 2017 The Antique Shoppe
Bing & Grøndahl Mother’s Day Plates
By Larry LeMasters
LeMasters’ Antique News Service
Millions of people collect plates
to one extent or another, and one of
the largest categories of collectible
plates is Mother’s Day plates. Many
Mother’s Day plate collections
began with a Bing & Grøndahl plate. technique.
Bing & Grøndahl (B&G), inter-
nationally recognized for its
craftsmanship and unique artistic
style, is credited with producing the
world’s oldest collector series of
plates. The company’s hand-painted
Christmas plate series began in
1895 and continues today, making it
119 years and counting.
Bing & Grøndahl also off ered the
world its fi rst Mother’s Day plate in
1969, making it 48 plates in 2017.
Unlike its Christmas plates, B&G
off ers a new Mother’s Day plate
every year. This remains the longest
running Mother’s Day plate series
ever issued by a manufacturer.
These Mother’s Day plates
belong to the world’s most
distinguished plate collecting
company.
Bing &
Grøndahl’s
limited
edition
plates
are hand
deco-
rated at
its
porcelain
factory in
Copenhagen,
Denmark.
And each plate has the
B&G seal on the back. A trademark
collectors know and trust.
Brothers Meyer and Jacob Bing,
both Danish art and book dealers,
and Danish sculptor Frederik
Vilhelm Grøndahl, who, at the time,
was a fi gurine sculpture for the
Royal Danish Porcelain Factory,
founded Bing & Grøndahl just
outside the city of Copenhagen, on
April 15, 1853. B&G remained an
independent manufacturer of fi ne
porcelain until 1987 when it merged
with the Royal Porcelain Factory,
its primary competitor, taking the
name Royal Copenhagen. Some
collectors try to limit their B&G
collection to items made prior to
1987, distinguishing B&G from
Royal Copenhagen.
Grøndahl’s reason for founding
his own company was to produce
quality bisque fi gurines modeled in
the neoclassical style of sculptor
Thorvaldsen. Soon B&G extended
its line to include high-end dinner- plate collection to a certain type of
Page 15
Celebrate the Joy of Motherhood
ware and coff ee sets. And, as
already stated, it introduced its
Christmas plate series in 1895,
which came to symbolize the
extraordinary Danish expert
Designs on B&G Mother’s Day
plates depict the joy of motherhood
by rendering mothers, all diff erent
animals, with their young,
including, but far from
limited to, dogs,
bears, horses,
squirrels, cats,
birds, raccoons,
foxes, swans,
deer, and
elephants. All
of the designs
are molded into
the plate in relief
and hand painted in
cobalt blue. The color
blue is used on the plates
since it is the only color that can
withstand the extreme temperatures
needed to properly fi re this type of
porcelain.
There are several dog plates
(diff erent breeds), bear plates, etc.
that have been produced, so some
collectors limit their Mother’s Day
animal, often displaying these small a few of them exceeding $75.
collections on a kitchen or dining Watch eBay and wait for the price
room wall. that best suits your collecting
On the front of each plate “Mors budget.
Dag” (Mother’s Day in Danish) and A few additional facts that might
the year of manufacture is written. help new collectors: The trademark
For its fi rst Mother’s Day plate, back stamp for Bing & Grøndahl
B&G artists captured a mother is the three towers derived from
Cocker Spaniel and four of her litter the Coat of Arms of Copenhagen.
spilling out of a fruit basket, B&G has never released inferior or
creating a modest, second quality Mother’s Day plates,
classic design of a so any price list you see will be for
mother dog and her 1 quality plates only.
st
puppies. Today, Since a book on B&G Mother’s
this plate sells Day plates has not been authored,
in the range of novice collectors might also want
to pick up a copy of Lars
Christoff ersen’s 2004 book
Christmas Plates from Royal
Copenhagen and Bing & Grøndahl.
It is a wonderful overview of Bing
& Grøndahl and will help new
collectors affi rm a basic respect and
admiration for the manufacturing
process that produces Bing &
Grøndahl Mother’s Day plates.
B&G PLATES SHOWN:
GEESE: 1997 Bing & Grøndahl Mors Dag
(Mother’s Day) plate; $25-100.
KANGAROOS: Inspired by the land down
under, this 2002 Mors Dag plate features
a mother kangaroo and her cub; $25.
COCKER SPANIELS: Bing & Grøndahl
1 Mother’s Day plate, 1969. This plate
st
is frequently on eBay, ranging from $25-
150, depending on original box, condition
$25-$150 on of plate, and greed of seller.
Internet auction
sites such as LIONS: 1982 Bing & Grøndahl Mother’s
Day plate; $20-65.
eBay. In 1979,
B&G reissued PANDAS: 1999 Bing & Grøndahl Jubilee
this Cocker Spaniel Mother’s Day plate with “Panda and
Cubs;” $120.
plate, in its “Jubilee
Special” plates, with the DALMATIONS: 2015 Bing & Grøndahl
Mother’s Day plate with Dalmatian
dates “1969” and “1979” on the mother and puppies: $40.
th
plate to commemorate its 10
anniversary. B&G repeated the BIRDS: 1970 Bing & Grøndahl Mother’s
Day plate; $15.
celebratory plates every ten years.
None of B&B’s Mother’s Day BUNNIES: Mother rabbit and her many
young adorn this 1999 Bing & Grøndahl
plates are scarce, so prices off ered Mother’s Day plate; $20.
sometimes seem high only because
of seller’s greed. A large majority of WHALES: 2017 Bing & Grøndahl
Mother’s Day plate; NIB; $72.00
these plates cost $15-$50 with only