In a recent tour of old friends along the East Coast, Marilyn and Harry Ingholt visited Peachy Crounse Capparelli. Peachy, widow of classmate Bob Crounse and now remarried, has a complete 12 plate set of Wedgewood China plates with scenes of famous buildings at Yale drawn over a period from 1752 to 1930. Harry photographed each of the plates and they are depicted below. They were collected by Bob's father, Dr. Kenneth Eugene Crounse, YC '24 and all plates are in excellent condition.

The plates are mentioned in an undated Yale Bulletin & Calendar article describing and exhibit of Yale Scenes on China at the Sterling Memorial Library. The article notes that Wedgewood produced a set of 12 commemorative plates beginning in 1931. (www.yale.edu/opa/ybc/v26.n32.news.13.html)

According to the this Yale Bulletin & Calendar: "The three earliest pieces on view were made in the Staffordshire region of England and show images based on Alexander Jackson Davis' 1831 drawing "Yale College & State House, Newhaven, Connecticut.'  Later pieces include two brightly colored images of Osborn Hall, which stood on Old Campus where Bingham Hall is located today.

"The major portion of the exhibit focuses on the popular and collectible set of china produced for Yale graduates by Wedgewood beginning in 1931. The dinner plates include 12 different scenes and buildings of Yale, beginning with 'Yale College,' the first building constructed in New Haven in 1716, through Sterling Memorial Library, which was completed in 1930."

Several individual plates of this set are advertised on ebay, for sale at around $26.50.  Up to ten different patterns are on offer from "Replacements Ltd" at $89.95 each.  A complete set of 12 plates is apparently quite rare.

Anyone wishing to inquire further about the plates can e-mail Harry at coldh2o@cox.net.