Question:
Hello, I have been trying to find some information on the Sweden House pattern. I believe it was made as a restaurant line. Can you give me an idea of when/how long it was produced? Also, an approximate value for dinner plates, side plates, cups & saucers? Thanks for your time. Tina

Answer: Sweden House was a regional restaurant chain, located in Minnesota and possibly surrounding states in the 1960s. Red Wing introduced the Hotel or Restaurant China line in 1964. Pieces were white or beige fleck, sometimes with a colored trim line around the rims. At least two and possibly three businesses placed orders for custom-decorated Hotel or Restaurant China for their restaurants. Sweden House and Diamond Jim’s are the two, and a handful of plates have been found that apparently were made for the Thunderbird Motel in Bloomington, MN. The exact production dates for these custom orders are not known, but the timeframe is brief since the line was introduced in 1964 and the Potteries closed in 1967.

Sweden House doesn’t attract as much collector interest as Diamond Jim’s. Sweden House plates have only a single design while Diamond Jim’s plates feature a different antique car design on each size of plate. Sweden House is also considerably easier to find than Diamond Jim’s, which had just a single location. Also, Sweden House was a buffet style restaurant and the dishes tend to show heavy use. Sweden House dinner plates are worth around $20, smaller plates and cups/saucers $10 to $15.

Larry