Veterans Day Poppies

Veterans Day holds special significance to me. My grandfather was a World War II veteran, served in Italy, and went on to be a Commander for a VFW Post. After he passed, I received a box of his memorabilia, including the telegram sent to him while he was serving overseas informing him that my mother was born. What a special document for me to have. I have many memories of being at "The Post" for various patriotic holidays such as Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Veterans Day, and of course, the Christmas celebrations. "Papa," as my grandfather was known, always made sure we had poppies, and to this day, when I see a veteran with poppies, I always donate and take one. On this Veterans Day, I decided to honor my Papa and set up a Fall Poppy table.

My Papa A Buddy Poppy

Poppies aren't really a part of the Fall season, but I had the perfect dishes! Several years ago, I was looking around on Etsy and fell in love with a set of dishes from the British pottery, Crown Ducal. There are many similar patterns; this particular pattern is #72944. It is ivory and white with gold, black, turquoise, and, you guessed it, poppy orange. And, there are tiny little poppies accenting the borders. According to my research, these plates were made sometime in the 1920s.

Crown Ducal was founded in 1915 and sold to Wedgwood in 1974. As I was thinking about how to use these plates, I realized I had never set a table with Wedgwood Patrician. It is a lovely ivory plate with a beautiful raised border. The pattern is timeless. I found a plate of it in an antique store with a morning glory pattern on it and started researching, falling in love with plain, non-decaled plates. Since then, I've acquired many dinner plates, cream-handled soup bowls, and a few other pieces.

The florentine swirls on the Crown Ducal plate are echoed in the swirls on the Patrician dinner plate. The Crown Ducal came in square, round and other shapes. Some had pedestals with fruit and flowers, very similar to the Lenox Autumn line. ( A pattern that I still covet!) I only have four plates, but you can find the pattern on Ebay and Etsy easily.

The elegance of the setting called for the use of crystal, lots of crystal! I set the table with crystal hurricane candle holders and Waterford Mourne glassware. The sun just started to stream in after a line of rainstorms came through, and the sunlight on the crystal is so beautiful.

The plate stack is simple: a gold charger, the Patrician dinner plate, the Crown Ducal plate, and one of my favorite fall napkin rings - an orange pompom mum and a white napkin with a burgundy border.

I had Grandma Irene's crocheted lace tablecloth on the table already and decided it would work well with the rusty brown tablecloth on top of it.

I recently purchased a new set of silverware and this is its debut. It is International Silver, Holmes and Edwards "Danish Princess" pattern. The pattern was made in 1938, and this set looks completely unused. It has a very Art Deco feel and was designed by Lillian V.M. Helander. It features rounded ends with a flower bud design.

A fall swag down the middle and the table is complete!

Thanks to all of the veterans that served. A pretty table with a special meaning.