Manufacturer: Warwick China
User: Princess Anne Hotel, Virginia Beach, Va.
Pattern name: Princess Anne
Distributor: Max Schwan, Norfolk, Va.
Date of examples: Circa 1936-1938

Backstamp from an additional platter with date stamp

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Notes: This is the "Princess Anne" pattern china manufactured by Warwick China and supplied by Max Schwan, Inc. of Norfolk, Va., to the Princess Anne Hotel, Virginia Beach, Va.

For many decades this pattern has been attributed incorrectly to the Pennsylvania Railroad-owned ferry named PRINCESS ANNE and operated by the Virginia Ferry Company.  In fact, the story of this china involves both a railroad and a ship. The Princess Anne Hotel was owned by the Norfolk & Virginia Beach Railway Company. On March 27, 1891, the Norwegian bark DICTATOR of Moss, Norway, was wrecked on the beach not far from the hotel, whose staff and guests witnessed the tragedy. The lost ship's figurehead drifted ashore near the hotel and was erected near it at the foot of 16th Street. The original figurehead was destroyed by storms but replaced by a statue known as The Norwegian Lady, presented by the citizens of Moss.

The hotel china depicts the ship aground and being destroyed by the sea.

Meanwhile, the actual Virginia Ferry Company steamship PRINCESS ANNE of 1936 had her own crockery with a VFC logo designed, like the ship, by Raymond Loewy, and produced by Jackson China as shown here: Virginia Ferry Company.

This pattern has the image in green of a tall ship with sails canted on rough seas and on either side in all caps, PRINCESS ANNE.

For more info:
Virginia Ferry Company, by Jackson China

Source:
Foss, William O., "The Norwegian Lady and the Wreck of the DICTATOR"

Contributors:
ID and creamer photos: Charles Dragonette
Platter photos: Attorney Anthony L. Draper