Dolly Madison Presided at Princeton's Faculty Table

Inasmuch as George Washington was a resident of Nassau Hall, and President Madison was once the head of the university, with his famous wife, Dolly Madison, presiding over the faculty table, it was hoped that some china used by these celebrities could be secured for the basis of the design for the Princeton University plates.

Diligent search, however, proved fruitless. We therefore adapted a border from the armorial series of plates by Mayer. This series pictured, within a typical Staffordshire border, the arms of the American colonies. Examples of the Mayer armorial series are rare and bring high prices when offered for sale in the auction rooms. The New Jersey plate was among the most famous of this series, so this century-old design was adopted for the basis of the Princeton plates. Mayer was one of the few potters to put his title on the front of the plate; hence the inclusion of the word "Princeton" in the secondary border, in the style of the original armorial plates."

From "Commemorative Plates by Wedgwood", a pamphlet published in 1931 by Jones, McDuffee & Stratton, the major US china importer of the time, based in Boston.


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