Robin Brewer Leaves Legacy...
Last week's death of Robin Brewer left an empty spot in my heart. I met Robin shortly after I moved back to Huntsville in 1999, when she was volunteering at the Weeden House. Not only was she my age, she was also an expert on Noritake China. In fact, her passion for the china had led her to collect over 8,000 pieces that she had to rent storage sheds to house. Just trying to identify what pieces she had and what the value was led her to actually invent a system to make "identification easier" and led to her publishing a book, with beautiful pictures in it to help others. The article I wrote years ago about her and her book, is still, week after week, the most popular page of the 15,000 pages on my website. I get emails every week from people, who mistaken me for the Noritake expert and ask me to identify their pieces. I always forwarded the email to Robin and asked her if she could help them...and she always did.When I met her, Robin was talking about opening a museum some day and displaying her collection. I thought she was "just talking," like I tend to do. I even went with her to look at a few locations. Then one day, out of the blue, she called to say she'd bought an old house on Main Street in Madison and was opening her museum. Clay House Museum became a reality. Robin displayed different years of Noritake in different rooms. She used to throw fabulous tea parties for the public, after all--she had the china for it! I will miss those tea parties and remember fondly the private tea party in her home that she invited me to join her and her friends.
Robin accomplished a lot in her life and fulfilled her big dream of a museum. Clay House Museum is now closed and the house is up for sale, the book that Robin wrote for all the Noritake collectors & lovers (and there are many!), remains as her contribution and legacy to the world. I would consider myself successful if I accomplished even half as much as Robin did in her lifetime.
Comments
I recently purchased Robin Brewer’s book: Noritake Dinnerware: Identification Made Easy because I own Noritake China. I tried to send her an e-mail and it was returned, so I did a search on her name and found your article about her passing. It sounds like she was quite an interesting person. Do you know what happened to all her Noritake? I’m not interested in owning more Noritake, I’m just curious what would happen to such a large collection. I hope wonderful people now own her collection.
Thanks for listening.
Nancy
From what I’ve heard, her family sold all her Noritake in a one-day sale…I didn’t hear about it until after the fact. They also are selling the museum…the house that was the museum.
Hello everyone
Maybe someone can direct me–I have my aunt’s Noritake ‘Cardinal’ setting for 12 which includes 12-10″round dinner plates/12- 8″square salad plates(1 plate has 2 small chips)/12-7 1/4″ round soup liners/11-double handle 4 1/2″ soup cups/12-5 1/8″ bowls/11-
6 1/4″ round plates/11-5 1/2″ saucers (1 chipped)/11-3 1/4″ tea cups/1-10 1/2″round x 2 1/4″ deep covered serving bowl/ 1-12 1/4″ x 16 1/4″ platter/1-11 3/4″ 8 3/4″ platter/1-
10 1/2″ x 2 3/8″ serving bowl/milk & sugar servers. Where can I find someone who have interest in these pieces??
Thanks
I am searching for the pattern name of a noritake teaset. It is a dark green palm tree on a yellow background. I think there may be a little black in it somewhere, but I can’t be sure. I do know that this teaset was bought in England in about 1937 or 1938. I cannot find a picture of it anywhere, so if anybody can help it would be wonderful. Thank you
A have a Noritake tea set according to your exact description, bought in 1938, that has been passed on to me. On the “replacements” web site its been explained as “green palm trees with gold lines” with no pattern name but a pattern code N2545.
Hope this helps.
Henriette – South Africa
I’ll ask for advice before I purchase the book, as I am not a collector. I have a set of Noritake china that was left to me. The stamp on the back of the pieces states “Noritake” with a lovely emblem, and below the emblem “Made in Occupied Japan”. No pattern is listed. I am interested in the pattern name and the value of the complete set of eight, in perfect condition. Thanks, if anyone can assist me.