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I have three sons, but beforethey revealed
I
I t hemselves to b e s uc h, m y hus bandand
I went through the motions of picking out
girl names. My mother's maiden name was
Menzies,and during each pregnancyI put
it in the girl colu m n of t he nam e lis t . And
each time my husbandlookedat it with fur-
rowed brow and said, "Terrible.No one will
understandwhat it is. She'llhaveto spell it
ten times a day her whole life." He appar-
ently couldn't hear the bagpipes,couldn't
envisiona bonnie babe swaddledin tartan.
But, like me, for centuriesfolks have been
mad for plaid and all the Scotch heritage
[L ^ +
L l ld L t s , uc >
;]
^^^^. . , i+ L w r Ll I r L.
Opposite: Webster House in the Crossroods
hos on ostonishinglgdiversecollection o/
tartonware,including these sundrg items.
Ta r t a n w a r e i s a f o r m o f M a u c h l i n e
ware,sycamoreboxesand ho-useholditems
that originated from a town in the county
of East Ayrshire, Scotland, of the same
nam e . M a u c h l i n e h a d l o n g b e e n k n o w n
for its quarries and for its box making.
Mauchline'swater of Ayr stoneswere excel-
lent f o r s h a r p e n i n g s t e e l b l a d e s . Wi l l i a m
and Andrew Smith were stonemasons in
the late l8th century who packagedtheir
product in plaid boxes.
It was a fortuitouspackagingadvantage,
indeed marketing genius. Several factors
converged to catapult the Smiths' plaid monarchhad visitedthe country.lt's on the
packaginginto collectinghall of fame.First, same island,for heaven'ssake.
KingGeorgelV of EnglandvisitedEdinburgh Scotsman Sir Walter Scott, who had
in 1822.So what? Big deal? Well, it was to capturedthe King'sattention with his novel
the Scotch.Ceorge'svisit marked the first Wa v e r l q ,p l a n n e d s o m e th i n g o f a C o l i n
time in nearlytwo centuriesthat a reigning Cowlie extravaganzato capture the King's
L .eL.er4
f a n cy T art an, which ha d be en out lar v ec l,
w a s once again a llowe cl,a ncl Sc ot t us ec lit
a s his S ct rI tishflin g the me. Clar rc hief t ar r s
a n t l ot lrer genlle nre ttlverea c lor t r ecinl k ilt s
f o r t he K ing 's ce leb ratio n,an c l Sc ot t c ot r -
v i n ceclC eor getha t a s a de scendentof t he
St u art line, h e to o, sh ou ld b e c lac lin lt laid
Th e K ing o utfitte cl h irnself in r ed Roy al
St u .rrl tart an cr)stin gn rL)ret har r S200, 000
l'art.rtr.rtr c liilt
rrr l t rrl.r!: cl.rll.rts. l s bec . r r le
rconic Scotttshr,vear.
A nd war e .Ceo rge lVs in t er es tc oult led
w i t h a secon d royal e nd ors em ent .O ueen
Vi c torias af finity fo r the co un t r y ,illus t r at ec l
by her clevotionto BalnroralCastle, nracle
a l l things S c otchth e ra ge Thes ewer e t he
V i c t orians,r e rrrerlb era nclthey wer e s t ar t -
ing t o lr av ea lit t l e n r o r er n o n e yf o r s t u f f A n d
t r av el Anc l wha t s t h e p o i n t o [ t r a v e l i f ) r o u
c an t br ing bac ka l i t t l e s o u v e n i r ?
St ill wit h m e ? O k , b a c k t o t h e S r n i t h s
Renr enr ber ?l'l r e m a s o n s , Wi l l i a n r a n d
lltelr \tnrre\
Ar r dr euSr nit lr ,w e r e l ) , r c k 4 g i n g
in plaid box es We l l , t h e b o x e s t h e t r s e l v e s
began t o c r ea t e a d e r n a n c l .T h e S t n i t h
. h e y c o u l c ls e e t h e
boy s wer e v is io n a r i e s T
t hat t he t a r t a n t r e n d l v a s c r e a t i n g .
nr ar l< et
The Snr it hs be g a n m a k i n g c o n r r n o r ri t e m s
ac lor nec rl v it h t h o s e g r i c i s s o m a t r y h a v e
grorvnto love.
Thes e c om m o n h o u s e h o l d i t e r n s -
box es , s ewing a c c e s s o r i e s ,c u p h o l d e r s ,
t hous anc lsof ite r n s ,i n f a c t - w e r e o r i g i n a l l y
paint ed by han d S k i l l e c {a r t i s a t t sc r e a t e d
 An Aside
The caterer for Sir Walter Scott's
grand ball for King George lV was
Ebenezer Scroggie, whom some
believe to be the inspiration for
CharlesDickens'characterEbenezer
Scroogein his tale A ChrisfmosCorol.
The story goes that Dickens saw
Scroggie'stombstone on a tour of
Scotlandand misreadthe engraving,
"a meal man" referring to Scroggie's
profession as corn dealer. Dickens
reportedly thought the marker read
"a mean man," and a characterwas
born. Scroggiewas far from mean,
rather he was generous,boisterous
and lascivious.

the tartan plaid on each piece. It was an

intricate and expensive process. Andrew
Smith's adaptation of the pantograph, a
machine that could duplicate the plaid
patterns of tartan, facilitatedthe explosion
of the industry.Now the patternscould be
printed on paper and applied to the wood
pieces.The thimble holders, napkin rings,
letter openers, egg cups and more were
painted black to hide the seams;then the
paperwas carefullyappliedwith one of doz-
onc n f n 2 t t e r n s

Justlike OueenVictoria,manyEnglish
citizenswere taking the new railroadto
Scotland Whatbetterto remind
to vacation.
youof yourtrip thantartanware?
TheSmiths
did not limit their souvenirsto Scotland,
however.The factory exported souvenirs
designedfor the UnitedStates,Australia
wereproduced
and muchof Europe.Pieces
to commemorate schools,hotels
churches,
homesand monuments.
Which givesa collectora lot to con-
s ide r. L i te rallyt hous andso f i te m s to
choo sefro m .T ar t ansr angin gfro m Pri n c e
C ha rl e sto Caledoniat o S t u a rt.M c B e th ,
ry
McPh er s onand M c F a rl a n da n d , y e s ,
Menziesare availableas well.Whereis a
lassor laddieto begin?
Fellowbloggerand San Franciscointe-
rior designerScotMeachamWoodremem-
bersthegermination "l can
of hiscollection.
still rememberthe wonderfultartanware
sewing implementsthat my grandmother
hadwhenI wasgrowingup.Iwasalwaysfas-
cinatedby the intricatepatterns,"he says.
"lt kind of left my life until yearslaterwhen
I wasworkingfor RalphLauren,and we had
a "Highland"
HomeCollection andusedtar-
tanwareto stylethe showrooms.I guessit
was loveat 'secondsight.'I startedworking
on myowncollection almostimmediately."
lust like any gentleman,Wood remem-
bershis first fondly."Mypersgnalcollection
startedwith a letteropenerthat I-foundat
HenryGregoryin London.It still sitson my
desk.t think someof my favoritepiecesare
a McDufftartan cribbageboardand a col-
lection of the worksof RobertBurns (see
sidebaron page 75) with a RoyalStewart
binding."
Whilea collectorcouldlimit his or her
collectionto one tartan pattern,I find it
enchanting,as Wood does,to see several
differentplaids together.Most piecesare toll on the Mauchlinewareindustry.A fire
relativelysmall, so a tabletop arranged at the factory in 1937destroyedthe pan-
strikingyear
with a collectionis particularly tographmachines,and the facilitywould
aroundor lustduringthe holidays. neverreopen.But whetheryou are mad for
As we'velearnedon thesepagesbefore, plaid yeararoundor just when Christmas
demandfor eventhe mostcharmingpieces bellsare ringing,BlackWatchor Menzies
eventuallybeginsto wane.The rise in the couldadda jauntyair to tableor shelf.
popularityof postcardsbeganto take its a
That'sM-E-N-Z-l-E-9.