Topic: Chodziez china - a funny colour grey

[Anne]

This might be a daft question but it's something that's puzzling me. I have a snack set (tea cup + saucer/plate) made by Chodziez but the body of the china is grey not white like English bone china. Can anyone explain why this would be?

The cup style is the same shape as the Royal Albert Roses cups, but with a silver-coloured trim rather than the more-usual gilt one. This is one a two sets (the other was broken some time ago) which were brought back for me from Poland by my Polish step-mother in the late 70s or early 80s. Was this grey-coloured china made for their domestic market rather than export to the UK or is there some other reason for this rather unusual colour?

[Anik R]

Funny, I would have never thought that there is something 'unusual' about the colour... all my Polish china is greyish. 

[Anne]

Hmmm that's interesting Anik. English china is much whiter, which is why it looks odd to me. There must be something different about the making of it then... lovely to see you over here too!

[Anik R]

... lovely to see you over here too!

Aw, thank you! 

I took another look at some of my Polish china, and none of the pieces are pure white. They go from an almost-white, like the Wałbrzych sugar, and the handpainted Karolina cup and saucer (first and second picture), to very grey, like the Tułowice teapot set.

I don't know what accounts for the colour... since both your piece and mine come from the domestic market, it would be good to see what Polish china bought outside of Poland looks like.