{"product_id":"lamberton-sterling-restaurant-ware-individual-creamer-white-vitrified-china-made-in-u-s-a-c-1955-1980","title":"Lamberton Sterling Restaurant Ware Individual Creamer, White Vitrified China, Made in U.S.A., c. 1955–1970","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small white creamer of the kind that used to arrive at a diner table alongside a cup of coffee, and it is built exactly the way that job demanded. The body is heavy, the wall is thick, the foot is a low turned ring, and the profile flares out from a waisted middle to a round base — a shape designed to be nearly impossible to knock over.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe spout is a simple pinched pull in the rim. The handle is a small closed loop set high on the body, sized for a thumb and two fingers and no more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no decoration of any kind. Just a plain warm white glaze, evenly applied, with a slight softness to the colour that keeps it from reading as cold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe base is fully marked: LAMBERTON above a laurel wreath enclosing a shield with the letter S beneath a crown, then CHINA, STERLING, MADE IN U.S.A., and the code P2.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat combination points to Sterling China of Wellsville, Ohio, and the Lamberton name it carried on. Lamberton originated at the Lamberton Works in Trenton, New Jersey, where Scammell China produced heavy hotel and railroad ware for decades. When Scammell wound down in the 1950s the Lamberton trademark passed on, and Sterling continued to use it — which is why this base reads Lamberton and Sterling at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is restaurant ware, and that is the whole point of it. Vitrified hotel china was made to a specification that domestic china never had to meet: fired hard enough to be effectively non-porous, thick enough to survive a bus tub, rolled at every rim to resist chipping, and stacked wet a hundred times a week for years. Diner china is the most over-engineered tableware ever made in America, which is exactly why so much of it survives in this condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe P2 is a factory code. We are not going to translate it into a year without documentation, so the range below rests on the mark rather than on the code.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;\"\u003e\n\u003cthead\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align: left; vertical-align: top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align: left; vertical-align: top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/thead\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eIndividual creamer\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eMaker\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eSterling China, under the Lamberton name, U.S.A.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eHeavy waisted body on a low turned foot ring, pinched spout, small closed loop handle\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eWhite vitrified restaurant china\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003ePrinted base mark: LAMBERTON \/ crowned shield with S in a laurel wreath \/ CHINA \/ STERLING \/ MADE IN U.S.A. \/ P2\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003ec. 1955–1970\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eExcellent. Structurally sound with no chips, cracks, hairlines, or repairs. The glaze is clean, bright, and uncrazed, the spout and rim are sharp with no bruising, and the handle is firm. There is light tan tone in the recess of the foot ring, which is normal on hotel ware and does not affect the piece. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align: top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlain white restaurant ware is the quiet backbone of a good-looking kitchen. It goes with everything because it commits to nothing, and it carries an authority that decorated china does not — the shape exists because of what it had to do, not because someone thought it would look nice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt this size it is endlessly useful off the table. It holds cream, obviously, but also salad dressing, warm syrup, olive oil, a single short stem, paper clips on a desk, or salt beside a stove. It is heavy enough to sit where you put it and small enough to disappear into any arrangement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it is genuinely tough. Unlike almost everything else on a shelf of vintage china, this one was engineered to be used hard, and it still is. You do not have to be careful with it, which is a rare and underrated quality in an old object.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care: this is vitrified hotel china and it will take a dishwasher without complaint, which is more than most of what we sell can say. There is no gilding and no over-glaze decoration to strip. If the interior ever picks up a coffee or tea stain, a paste of bicarbonate of soda and a little water, left to sit and then wiped out, will lift it without abrading the glaze. Avoid harsh scouring powders, which will dull the surface over time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48029649043561,"sku":null,"price":56.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/IMG_3747.jpg?v=1789003409","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/lamberton-sterling-restaurant-ware-individual-creamer-white-vitrified-china-made-in-u-s-a-c-1955-1980","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}