Question:

We have several pieces of the Regal Restaurant or Hotel China.  We bought most of them off a cart outside the Pottery Store in the early nineties.  We have several saucers that have a light turquoise tint to them.  We bought these from the company store as well.  In “Red Wing Art Pottery Two” by Ray Reiss it states on page 187 that these were test saucers.  Is there any value or rarity to these saucers?

Answer:

The Regal pattern is hard to find and to most collectors it is unknown.  A Hotel or Restaurant brochure  that included Regal surfaced several years ago.  This is the only documentation of Regal we have seen.  We believe this pattern was introduced not long before the Potteries closed and thus was in production for only a short period.

The Regal brochure states it was available in either white or beige fleck.  There is no mention of a light turquoise shade.  The two lightly colored saucers could be due to variation in the glaze batch, or could be test plates.  Are there markings on the bottom of the saucers?  That would help to determine whether these are standard issue saucers or test pieces.  Sorry, but in my opinion none of the test saucers shown on page 187 of RR #2 appear to be the same color as yours.

All Regal dinnerware is considered scarce.  But it is not in high demand so value is only average.  A white Regal cup and saucer would be worth around $15 in excellent condition.  The shaded variant may be worth more depending on whether or not there are test markings on the bottom.  Such markings would double or triple the value.

Larry