Collectible china commemorates Palmetto State

PROVIDED BY SIBLINGS THREE

'Declaration Signers' features the four South Carolinians who signed the Declaration of Independence.

PROVIDED BY SIBLINGS THREE

'South Carolina Dispensary' recalls the state's liquor sales monopoly in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

PROVIDED BY SIBLINGS THREE

Five of the most famous men of South Carolina are featured on this plate.

PROVIDED BY SIBLINGS THREE

'Best Friend of Charleston' recalls the first steam locomotive in the United States with regular passenger service.

PROVIDED BY SIBLINGS THREE

A village is depicted on the 'Indians of South Carolina' plate.

Plated history

When Rosemary Hopkins married and moved to Georgia, a neighbor in the Peach State presented her with a special gift. It was a Georgia history plate, one of a series depicting prominent people, places and events in the state's history.

Thirty-six years later, Hopkins and family members attended a gathering at her mother's house in McCormick, and the conversation turned to history plates. Thanks to the elderly Georgia neighbor, Hopkins, a South Carolina native, had eventually collected the complete set of Georgia plates. In fact, the Georgia plates had inspired Hopkins to produce a similar set commemorating Ware County, where she grew up.

During the conversation at her mother's house, Hopkins, sister Nancy Moore and brother John Talbert decided to produce a set of history plates for South Carolina.

'I was jealous because Georgia had these plates, and they have had them since 1933,' says Hopkins, who still considers herself a South Carolinian. 'I just thought we were missing out on this.'

To produce the series, Hopkins, her sister and brother started a company, 'Siblings Three,' and met with their high school history teacher, the now-deceased Martha Patterson of McCormick, who served many of the state's history organizations.

'She was 90 years old and her mind was as clear as a bell,' Hopkins says. 'She named off 10 or 12 subjects, and said they needed to be on these plates.'

The three siblings began considering images to depict on the plates, and most of the ones they eventually decided to use were recommended by Patterson.

Lowcountry bird and wildlife artist Anne Worsham Richardson is the only living person featured in the series. Richardson, whose work has been the subject of shows around the country, owns Birds I View Gallery downtown, where the 'Famous S.C. Women' plate on which she is featured will be displayed.

'It was just one of those things that happens to you, and you don't have too much control over it,' Richardson says. 'I guess I'm a part of history and I can't help myself.'

The artist, who still paints, says that based on Moore's description of the plate, she'll be sharing the space with some very accomplished women.

Among those featured on the same plate are Eliza Lucas Pinckney, of whom there are no known images, says an archivist at the South Caroliniana Library of the University of South Carolina.

Hopkins says the siblings decided to represent Pinckney, who grew the first successful crop of indigo in Lowcountry soil, with a hand holding an indigo plant.

Siblings Three selected Chown China, a commemorative china specialist in Cornwall, England, to make the bone china plates, which are safe to dine on and can be placed in dishwashers and microwaves.

The subjects of the plates are 'Declaration Signers' (Declaration of Independence), 'Famous Men of South Carolina,' 'Famous South Carolina Women,' 'Indians of South Carolina,' 'the State House,' 'St. Andrews Church,' 'Fort Moultrie,' 'John de la Howe School,' 'Colleges & Universities I,' 'Colleges & Universities II,' 'Andrew Jackson,' 'Best Friend of Charleston,' 'Dispensary Bottle,' 'Edgefield: Home of Ten Governors,' 'Fort Sumter' and 'Historic Hotels & Inns.'

The plate borders include state symbols such as the flag, the Carolina wren and the palmetto tree as well as the Carolina peach, the yellow jessamine and the swallowtail butterfly. The back of each plate provides the historical significance of the events, institutions and people depicted on the front.

Most of the images used are part of the South Caroliniana Library's collection.

Beth Bilderbeck, visual materials archivist there, says the siblings visited the library twice to select images, but exchanged an enormous number of e-mails with her in advance.

'They had an idea of the subjects that they wanted on their plates and they gave us a list,' she says. 'They could look and see which ones they thought might reproduce best. They looked at a lot of images.'

Hopkins hopes the plates will become as treasured to South Carolinians as the Georgia ones are to Georgians.

The plates, first sold in Greenwood in December, cost $85 and can be purchased at www.southcarolinahistoryplates.com or by calling 864-229-1095.

ReachWevonneda Minis at 937-5705 or at wminis@postandcourier.com.