America’s Most Wanted -- China Patterns

Arlene Dubuc recently fulfilled a decades-old quest. The Fillmore, Calif. resident has been searching for replacements for a few pieces of her china set that were broken during shipping more than five decades ago.
“My husband bought these dishes in Japan in 1952 when he served in the Korean War,” explains Dubuc. The china was shipped back in two crates, and almost all of the 100 pieces of it arrived intact, with the exception of 11 sauce dishes which cracked en route.

Dubuc wanted a complete set of dishes, but she didn’t hold out much hope. “Most of the servicemen brought back Noritake china, but mine is Narumi,” she says. “I didn’t know anyone else who had this pattern or this brand, so I didn’t think I’d find the pieces I needed. To make matters more difficult, the china didn’t have a pattern name stamped on the back so I didn’t even know what it was called.”

Back in the ‘60s, Dubuc noticed an ad in the back of a women’s magazine for Replacements Ltd., a North Carolina-based company that tracks down discontinued china, silver and crystal. “I wrote them a couple of letters over the years, but it wasn’t until everything went online that I was able to see a photo and identify my pattern,” she says.

Replacements Ltd. has played a key role in identifying many Japanese china patterns, explains company spokesperson Liam Sullivan. During World War II and the Korean War, many Japanese companies mass produced a wide variety of china patterns specifically to sell to U.S. servicemen at military PX stores. “Because they were produced so quickly, many patterns didn’t have names,” says Sullivan. He says there are thousands of Japanese-produced china patterns that were never named.

Replacements Ltd. started gathering information on these patterns 20 years ago and began “naming” them by assigning numbers so they could be cataloged. Now the Japanese manufacturers come to Replacements for help in researching these china patterns. “Noritake sent a delegation from Japan not long ago,” says Sullivan. He encourages people with unidentified patterns to send a photo or digital image to Replacements Ltd. “Chances are we can help them identify it, and if we haven’t seen it, we want to know about it so we can catalog it,” he says.

Customers who are searching for a specific pattern can simply call 1-800-REPLACE or visit the company’s Web site, where they’ll find over 200,000 digital images that make it easy for people to identify their china. “If they know the manufacturer and the name of the pattern, that makes it really easy,” says Sullivan. However, the experts at Replacements can also research china using a photo or a photocopy of the front and back of a dinner plate.

The company prides itself on helping customers track down pieces they need, even if they’re not currently in stock. Customers can give Replacements a “wish list,” and the company will notify them when they have the piece available.

After more than 50 years of looking, Dubuc received the first of her sauce dishes from Replacements earlier this year. “I’m still short one or two sauce dishes, but I’ll collect those eventually,” she says.

Dubuc says she was also impressed by how well the dishes were packed when she received them from Replacements. “You can tell they understand how important these pieces are to people,” she says. She notes that her sister was visiting when the dishes arrived, making for a very special moment. “It was so nice to have her there to share it with me. I’m 70 years old, and I finally have my sauce dishes.”

“We understand that people are looking for a piece of their family history, not just a piece of china or silver,” says Sullivan. And with over 10 million pieces of china, crystal and silver in stock, these modern day dish detectives come to the rescue.

Dubuc has 12 place settings of her china, and one thing that did surprise her was how much the set has increased in value. But the biggest value is sentimental. Dubuc is looking forward to handing down this special china that features pale yellow and pink roses to one of her family members.