Fine Bone China - Difference between first quality and seconds

terriermama

Can anyone direct me to a guide on how to spot the difference between 'first quality' Fine Bone China and 'seconds'?

I just invested in some dinner pieces which should be 'first quality' directly from the manufacturer. On closer examination, however, I'm seeing a few tiny 'pinpoints' in a couple plates and also there is what looks like a spot of clay on one plate (I'm afraid to scrape off in case I damage the item). Should I return?

apprentice_tycoon

A tricky one - I buy and sell china, but not new from the manufacturer.

The usual way to spot a second is if there is a mark through the backstamp, a scratch or something, but many times I have dealt with a piece that isn't marked as a second and found the odd flaw like you describe so these must be passing the quality control as perfect. I think that the majority of seconds are because a transfer was put on badly

juno

Who's is it? If it's Wedgwood then take it back, as they will swap it. They also do a free service where if you spend over £250 on a dinner service (or receive it as a wedding gift) then they will replace broken items for 2 years.

If it's Royal Doulton or Royal Wocester (can;t spell it!) then they should accept it back if you're not happy.

terriermama

It's full priced Royal Doulton. There's no mark through the backstamp on any of the plates, just the blemishes I mentioned, and also a couple of teeny black specs on a couple of the plates. It's so annoying and inconvenient having to send these back as I wanted to use them for guests this weekend.

Would the flaws I mentioned be considered defects or is this how they are suppposed to be? The one with the clay stain is definitely defective though.

apprentice_tycoon

I think that a call to the customer services is your next move, but I think, sadly, that they may say that these flaws are part of the normal manufacturing process.

Silent_Bob_3

We've got a Royal Doulton dinner service we bought from their outlet shop/s in the Potteries (all but one side plate are seconds) and we can't find any faults on them whatsoever.

apprentice_tycoon

Bob - someone told me that if they have a backlog in the quality control at the factories they mark them all as seconds to get them moving, don't know if it's true.....

juno

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

Bob - someone told me that if they have a backlog in the quality control at the factories they mark them all as seconds to get them moving, don't know if it's true.....

With some things they mark best as seconds. Like if they've got a second teacup but no saucer then they mark a saucer anyway.