Minton, Moser and Meissen. “It sounds like a law firm,” says Ron Lambe of Asheville, but it’s actually the triumvirate of Lambe’s impressive china collection. Minton — the British china company known for its bright colors and early hand-painted designs — was something of a gateway china-collecting obsession for Lambe, while German Meissen porcelain worked its way into his heart later and Moser Czech glass eventually took him there, too (as well as in his china cabinets). The trifecta has now even entirely appropriated Lambe’s dining room, impeding ingress into the room. “My passion has become a pathology,” he jokes.
A cellist and retired environmental activist, Lambe has only been seriously collecting china for around 20 years, but the idea wasn’t completely new to him. His mother was a “casual collector” while his stepfather was a serious art glass and paperweight collector (so serious, in fact, that his collection is now in a Greensboro museum). Lambe first picked up some plates at the commissary while serving as a chaplain’s assistant in the Army in Korea, but didn’t turn collecting into a hobby until he discovered Minton in an antique shop Down East in the ‘90s.
The English company began in 1793 and by the Victorian era was one of England’s top china and porcelain producers, vying for the attention of the country’s elite. For Lambe, Minton’s allure was the designer’s bright colors such as turquoise and cobalt (often seen along the rims) and the imaginative patterns (birds, willows and “the Indian tree” are well known motifs). But most of all he loves the craftsmanship. “All that attention to detail,” he says, tracing along the gilded lines of an early 19th century plate. “Every piece is so fascinating.” All of the early pieces were painted by hand until transfer patterns became the norm, and Lambe appreciates that the patterns can be attributed to an individual. “Each one has a story behind it,” he says.
An interest turned into a collection. “At first no one else was collecting Minton,” says Lambe. He once picked up a 200-piece set in a Texas antique store. But then came the Internet, making collecting easier and at the same time more competitive and costly. “My downfall was eBay,” he jokes. Although he doesn’t necessarily strive to collect full place settings, doing so is an education and also a glimpse into a bygone lifestyle, he says. Some place settings have up to 11 pieces, with separate cups (and accompanying saucers) for coffee, tea, and chocolate, different cream soup and rim soup bowls. “The Victorians didn’t duplicate anything,” says Lambe. He even has a porcelain toast holder from such a set. These pieces, as one can imagine, don’t see use, but some of the plates have.
Lambe’s collection centers on the years from the early 1800s to the 1940s. His earliest (and probably most valuable piece) is an 1805 plate. The only other piece known in that pattern is in the British Museum. But it’s not the rarity or the value that interests Lambe. In fact, he isn’t sure how many pieces he has or the real worth of many of them. He just loves the way they look.
“I do have other interests, too,” says Lambe, who coordinates a chamber music series at Asheville’s St. Matthias Church. His love of music — and job at a record store in San Francisco in the ‘60s and ‘70s — lead him to collect classical records, including many opera LPs that were signed by stars who made appearances in the store. The collection made it through Lambe’s back-to-the-land years in Mitchell County during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s and occupies an entire wall in his sunroom. “When I get into something,” he says, “I really get into it.”
Lambe put the kibosh on any further china and glass purchases a few years ago and is planning to cull and keep just a few special pieces. The original intent was to display the plates face out in order to appreciate their beauty, but there are so many plates in the collection now that they have to be stacked. Besides, says Lambe, “I have to get back into my dining room!”