RARE antique souvenir set of plates from the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900. The buildings you see here in transfer on the set of 9 plates include: Palais de la Navigation, Esplanade des invalides, Grand palais, Petit Palais,Palais du mobilier, Palais des armées de terre et de mer, Palais du Génie civil, Pont Alexandre, Palais de l'électricité. They were produced for the Expo and are signed HBC, France. They are 19.5 cm, or 7.75" diameters. Such a fun and important set for the collector, or just to use in decor or at your next fun French dinner party. They're each different, giving a real feel of the many architectural delights that comprised the Expo grounds that stretched across the Pond Alexandre II, build for this Expo, and on forward to the historic Petit and Grand Palais along the way to the Champs Elysee. They're marked with maker marks, which we've shown. I am unsure of the maker and mostly interested in the Expo thrill, value. The glaze is a deep laurel green against a slightly creamy white with a palest tint to yellow. Very appealing!
Good to very good. Each of these is old, and they were souvenir plates to begin, so have had much display in the 117 years since they were created. There are glaze cravings typical of these old transfer ware faience pieces, all the more charming. There are, however, no chips nor cracks. A lovely old set of 9.
