Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)
President, 1933-45

A new state dining service of 1,722 pieces was ordered for the White House by retailer William H. Plummer of New York from Lenox China of Trenton, New Jersey, in 1934. At the suggestion of Eleanor Roosevelt, the inner gold border featured feathers alternating with bands of roses, motifs taken from the Roosevelt coat of arms. The outer band of dark blue edged in gold is overlaid with gold stars for the forty-eight states, and the Seal of the President in enamel colors appears on each piece of the service.

Lenox also made a dining service decorated with gold and cobalt bands with a polychrome presidential seal on the ledge, for President Roosevelt’s yacht, the Williamsburg. Susan Gray Detweiler, from American Presidential China: The Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2008), p. 76.