Plates

Limoges, in west-central France, sits on kaolin — the white clay that made hard-paste porcelain possible there. In 1842 David Haviland, a New York china merchant, settled in the city to make dinnerware for the American table. Haviland became the name collectors still look for on a Limoges plate: gold rims, fine white body, and patterns that turn up one piece at a time.