Question:
I HAVE A SET OF RED WING DISHES THAT ARE OLD. BUT I NEED HELP IN FINDING OUT ABOUT THEM AND HOW MUCH THEY ARE WORTH.THE CUPS ARE BLACK ON THE OUTSIDE AND SQURE IN SHAPE,THE PLATES ARE ALMOST SQUARE WITH A LAREFLOWER(COULD BE A MAGNOLIA)WITH BLACK GREEN AND BROWN LEAVES TOO. THEY SAY "RED WING POTTERY" IN AN OVAL SHAPE ON THE BACK WITH "HAND PAINTED" AND A BIG R W IN THE MIDDLE.AT THE BOTTM OF THE OVAL ON EACH SIDE IT LOOKS LIKE A SMALL NUMBER OR MARK. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP. JOYCE WILLIAMSON

Answer: I can’t positively identify the pattern from your description but can narrow it down to two patterns. A photo would really help here. The squarish shapes indicate a pattern from the Concord line, which narrows the possibilities to around 20 patterns. No Concord patterns used black glaze but four of them had cups with Metallic Brown exteriors, a dark brown that could be mistaken for black. All four of these patterns feature flowers in the artwork. Your flowers aren’t pink or yellow, so that leaves us with the Lotus and Magnolia patterns. The colors you describe most closely fit the Lotus pattern but Magnolia can’t be ruled out. The oval shaped RW mark you’ve described was used in the late 1940s and can be found on either Lotus or Magnolia pieces.

As for value, an inventory of the pieces in your set and the condition of them is needed before an estimate can be made.

Larry