To set a table that is literally luscious to the senses, Wedgwood Tonquin-Ruby fine porcelain china, magnificent Thistle crystal by St. Louis, and rare Francis I–Gold Vermeil silver by Reed & Barton are treasures beyond compare!

Tonquin-Ruby was designed by Wedgwood’s legendary art director, John Goodwin. The china features a lustrous, deep ruby background color similar to lack, a resin derived from the tonquin tree (the tonquin is an East Indies tree, known for dark red resin and black seeds used to make perfume), with gold trim and scalloped shape. Overlaid chrysanthemums, peonies, and anemones in lighter and darker shades of gold are so richly and finely drawn that they are nearly three-dimensional. Tonquin-Ruby was introduced in 1930, the same year the company launched an elaborate celebration of the bicentennial of the birth of Josiah Wedgwood I, founder of the company. Although the celebration began only months after the stock market crash in New York in 1929 with its ensuing global financial crisis, Tonquin-Ruby was a worldwide success, remaining in production at Wedgwood for six decades.

Thistle by St. Louis is magnificent crystal with wide, encrusted gold trim that features elegant gold filigree, a concave bowl with flared top and a straight-line optical design on the side, polished crystal cuts on the bottom of the bowl, and a multi-sided, notched stem with round foot that also includes encrusted gold trim. Light dances and spins in this crystal! Made in 1913, prior to World War I, this wonderful pattern is full of Old World charm and elegance.

Equally redolent of Old World charm is the silver pattern Francis I-Gold Vermeil by Reed & Barton, made in 1907. Elaborate and exquisite, the design is tip-heavy with pointed end, scallop-shaped with scrolled edges, a fan/plume design with fruit and flowers, and glossy gold electroplate finish. The Francis I design in sterling silver has graced the tables of maharajahs and American presidents. With the gold vermeil finish, you’ll add even more elegance and exclusivity to your table. “Here is an art treasure of enduring beauty, value, and taste, to enrich the lives of all who appreciate the rare, the distinguished, the classic,” early Reed & Barton literature states of Francis I, and we couldn’t put it any better!