Manufacturer: Scammell China
User: Detroit & Cleveland Line (D&C)
Pattern name: D&C-4A Frog Pattern
Distributor: Osborne, Boynton & Osborne, Detroit
Date of platter: circa 1912 – 1919

Notes: Originating in 1849, the Detroit & Cleveland Line was known as "The Grand Fleet of the Great Lakes." The D&C main route lay diagonally across the lake where railroad tracks could never run parallel. Its primary routes were between Detroit, MI and Cleveland, OH, and other routes lead to Buffalo, NY. Charters and day-trips were also offered. Most scheduled sailings were overnight sailings, landing in the morning after departure.

In 1949, the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company had seven ships in operation. The fleet consisted of massive, multi-funneled, tall-stemmed, steel-hulled sidewheelers, complete with grand salons and galleried dining rooms. The company's name was familiar in states throughout the lower Great Lakes region for nearly a century until its cessation in 1950. The D&C logo was widely seen in newspaper advertisements and billboards of the time.

The frog prominently displayed in the logo is explained on the Historic Detroit website.     In writing about the City of Detroit III and its lavish trappings, there is this: "The room [wine cellar] was covered in Pewabic tiles and fashioned with massive, hand-hewn oak beams with a large oak bar at one end. Behind the bar was a mural of a gnome painting a frog. The little critters were the D&C's mascot."

Lamberton China white body with a frog peering out from a water lily blossom with "D&C" in script in the leaf below. On the opposing border the water lily motif is repeated without the frog. There are three squiggly pin lines around the platter that culminate top and bottom in a graceful Art Nouveau pattern of water lily leaves.

For related info:
Detroit & Cleveland Line (D&C) 2 by Scammell China
Detroit & Cleveland Line (D&C) 4 Frog Pattern by Scammell China