Designed by Eva Zeisel, Town and Country was introduced in 1947 as a colorful and boldly modern dinnerware line produced by Red Wing Pottery. Although the original production run ended in 1956, in recent years it has become a popular line among dinnerware collectors and those who appreciate modern design.
Acquiring Town and Country can be difficult for the casual collector. In addition to being uncommon, the pieces have no markings, so collectors must rely on recognizing the distinctive biomorphic serving pieces, tabbed handle lids, and tilted plates and bowls. Knowledge of the available colors also helps in identifying pieces. This web page should help collectors become familiar with both the shapes and colors of Town and Country.
The Shapes
The Colors
Reissues
Terry and Jennifer Ogle and Larry Roschen have written a pair of articles detailing the original Red Wing production timelines for Town and Country, for the June and August 2005 issues of the Red Wing Collectors Society newsletter. See:
Town & Country Dinnerware: A Timeline of Shapes and Colors (Part 1) - Covering the original production run
Town & Country Dinnerware: A Timeline of Shapes and Colors (Part 2) - Covering the alternate Quartette colors and related dinnerware lines
Here is my list of Modern Collecting Links.
This page was created by Doug Way and Betsy Lescosky Way. If you have any questions or comments about Town & Country, or have more information to share, feel free to send email to me at dway at mailcan dot com. But please note that I'm not an expert on Red Wing in general... if you have questions about a particular Red Wing dinnerware line (aside from Town & Country), you may want to look at the dinnerware section of Wing Tips, the Red Wing collector's web site. Also, there is an excellent, inexpensive Red Wing Dinnerware Price Guide available, written by Ray Reiss.