Having had several bad experiences with U.S. Postal Service gorillas breaking delicate items, I’ve been sweating it out since Monday afternoon when I won the eBay auction for these four Wallace China Boots & Saddle dinner plates.
Even though they were indifferently packed and not marked “Fragile,” they arrived this morning in perfect condition.
I got the four for $90.77 ($22.69 each) plus shipping, which I consider a killer deal, especially since my dear Maria once paid considerably more than that for a single Boots & Saddle plate for a Christmas present for me. I guess she really likes me.
The same plate sells for an insanely overpriced $179.95 from Replacements Ltd.
I’ve resumed my long-suspended Wallace China collecting after discovering I didn’t have as much cowboy dinnerware as I thought I did. We hosted friend Susan and her two little foster daughters for dinner a few weeks ago and I trotted out all of my Wallace stuff, noticing that I barely had enough for five place settings.
I continue to be amazed that the original Wallace Westward Ho series is selling cheaper than the repro dinnerware made by True West, who bought the copyrights for the Westward Ho series after Wallace went out of business and was bought by Shenango China Co. in 1964.
The Westward Ho line, which includes Boots & Saddle, Rodeo, Pioneer Trails, and Longhorn patters, features the work of Western artist Till Goodan. Boots & Saddle and Rodeo stuff is characterized by borders of cattle brands. The Westward Ho dinnerware was introduced in 1945, the year of my birth, and I first encountered it during the summer of 1955 in restaurants in South Dakota and Wyoming when my parents took me to Yellowstone National Park.
(There is also a Chuckwagon series, but the graphics are crude and don’t reflect the Till Goodan style, so I have no interest in collecting Chuckwagon stuff.)
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