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John Humphrey Noyes as he appeared on an Oneida Ltd. stock certificate (1969). The Mansion House is in the background.

Probably the Oneida Community is most remembered today for its unconventional family arrangements. Community members practiced what Noyes called complex marriage, that is, every man was married to every woman, just as every woman was married to every man. Although their neighbors equated this with "free love," the Perfectionists defended complex marriage as noble and unselfish, since all were expected to be loving to all and exclusive - or "selfish" - relationships were discouraged. During the early years, children were also discouraged, but by 1869 when the community was more prosperous, couples selected for their desirable qualities were encouraged to have children. John Humphrey Noyes himself fathered several, including sons who were later very active in the affairs of Oneida, Ltd.

At first the Perfectionists tried to support themselves by farming and by preserving and selling fruits and vegetables. This did not provide enough income, so they branched out into several industrial activities. An 1890s ad offered a booklet which "tells how we came to make such interesting and incongruous things as Delicious Preserved Fruits and Traps for catching Grizzly Bears, Fine Sewing and Embroidery Silk and Steel Chains. Also beautiful Spoons, Forks and Knives." Not many silver companies started out by making traps for grizzly bears.

By 1877, when the Wallingford, Conn., branch of the community started the production of tin-plated spoons, the original Oneida Community was beginning to break up. In 1879, Noyes moved to Canada and complex marriage, was abandoned. In 1880, the assets of the community were distributed to its members in the form of stock in the newly formed corporation, Oneida Community, Limited.

Silverplate production was moved, first to Niagara Falls, N.Y., and later to Sherrill, N.Y., within walking distance of the original Oneida Community property. When the community became a corporation, some members found it difficult to adjust to new business practices and divided into factions which competed to control the board of directors. In 1895, a vigorous election campaign led to a change in management. Among the promoters of change was young Pierrepont Noyes, one of the sons of John Humphrey Noyes. Only 24, Pierrepont Noyes took over management of the silverware business and eventually became president of the company.

The quality of Oneida's silverware had never been high. As Pierrepont Noyes put it in his book A Goodly Heritage:

"The business fathers of the old Oneida Community, Perfectionists as they were, had successfully developed four industries by refusing to make any but the best of each article produced. Only their youngest enterprise, begun in those later days when worldly encroachments were shaking the foundations of the Community, was the exception. They made cheap silverware. What more logical, now, than for us to go back to the earlier traditions of our ancestors and make our competitors play the game of better quality silverware? That we decided, would be our new game. From then on, our discussions were confined to discovering ways of making better silver-plated ware than had ever been made before."

The first result of this new approach was the Avalon pattern of silver-plated flatware, introduced in 1901, followed by the popular Flower de Luce pattern in 1904, The mark "Community Silver" (later "Community Plate") was adopted for this line of high quality ware.

Many people have been impressed by the communal origins of Oneida Community, Limited. Equally impressive, however, are the innovative business practices which marked the company during the years following the introduction of Community Plate. The results have created interesting possibilities for collectors today.

• Artists were employed to design original and innovative patterns. Another son of the community, Grosvenor Allen, not only served as a director but also trained as a designer and created such patterns as Noblesse, Coronation and Grosvenor. Oneida was one of the few silver companies to offer silver in the Art Deco style, with the patterns Deauville and Noblesse.

In this 1933 advertisement you can find flatware, china, and crystal -- all in the Deauville pattern.

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  A vigorous advertising campaign in national magazines kept the Community name before the public. The new ads were full page and often in color. These ads are graphically interesting. Today collectors particularly look for those ads signed by Coles Phillips and Jon Whitcomb. Such ads in black and white would cost $2 to $4, but a full-color Coles Phillips ad might cost $20 or more.
• Oneida designed and sold additional table items to match its flatware patterns. For example, in the Grosvenor pattern, the firm made as many as 38 different pieces of hollowware such as bread trays, meat platters, candlesticks, salt and pepper shakers, and a coffee service. Pieces which match desirable Community patterns, in excellent condition with no monograms, range from $35-$50 for a set of salt and pepper shakers, $45-$60 for a bread tray, and $80-$l00 for a large water pitcher.
• In the 1920s Oneida experimented with plastic. Knives in at least four patterns - Bird of Paradise, Paul Revere, Patrician and Grosvenor - were offered with plastic handles. A 1928 ad shows plastic handles in three colors described enthusiastically as "the translucent rose-red of rubies, the clear blue of sapphires, the scintillant green of emeralds." Collectors looking for these knives should note that the plastic is pearlized on the top and bottom surfaces of the handles, but -a solid color on the sides. The pattern motif is molded into the plastic. One rarely sees these knives, and often their origin is not recognized. Expect to pay about $8-$l0 each.

This 1928 Ad shows the three colors of plastic-handled knives in the Bird of Paradise, Paul Revere, and Grosvenor patterns.

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  In the 1930s Oneida offered crystal and china to match its most popular flatware patterns. These are not documented in any silver reference that I have examined, so I summarize what I have learned below.

Community Crystal is difficult to document and just as difficult to find. The crystal was made to match at least four Community patterns: Grosvenor, Deauville, Noblesse and Lady Hamilton. At least two pieces were offered: a water goblet and a sherbet ' The illustration in a full-color ad shows that pieces were made with stems in clear, green and blue, while the bowls were consistently clear.

The four crystal patterns shown here are Deauville (green stem), Noblesse (blue stem), Grosvenor, and Lady Hamilton (clear stems).

Community Crystal is almost never recognized. The maker of the crystal is not known and the pieces are not marked, so you can only identify them by being familiar with the pattern motifs. In over 15 years of collecting I have seen only the Deauville water goblets. Other collectors, with even greater experience, have seen only the Deauville and Lady Hamilton water goblets. All agree that the quality of the crystal is high, and you can expect it to be priced accordingly.

Community China is relatively rare, but still easier to find and easier to identify than the crystal. Oneida offered china to match at least seven flatware patterns. For three of the silver patterns, two different china patterns were offered.

All the china I have examined has been marked, but at least five different marks have been seen. Four marks cite England, Bavaria and America as the countries of origin. A mark reported by another collector cites Limoges, France. All marks have in common the use of the words "Community China" and the name of the matching silver pattern. Although we know the countries of origin for this china, we do not know the makers.

Three patterns of Community China: Deauville, King Cedric, and Lady Hamilton.

I have examined samples of five different patterns of Community China and have found that the quality is consistently high. For example, the dishes in the Deauville pattern could easily be mistaken for Lenox. The pattern motif is executed in platinum on a cream background, making a very sophisticated combination. The Grosvenor china from Bavaria has the pattern motif in a strong blue on a white background, set off with a narrow gold line on the rim of each piece.

In addition to the shows, auctions, and shops, Community China may be available through china replacement services. One national replacement service has recently listed Community China in the Noblesse and Grosvenor patterns for $35 for a dinner plate; $22 for a fruit bowl; $55 for a creamer, and $116 for a 14-1/2 -inch oval platter.

In the years since World War 11, the American silver industry has changed greatly. Many of the great companies like International Silver Co., Wallace Silversmiths, and Towle Silversmiths - greatly changed their identities. Oneida, Ltd., the offspring of those 19th-century Perfectionists, is still in business, still producing Community Plate.

The Mansion House in Oneida, N.Y., built by the Oneida Community for its members and still lived in by some of their descendants, can be visited. Call (315) 361-3671 for hours and tour arrangements.

The Mansion House as it appears today.

For an inside account of the Oneida Community and the early development of Oneida Community, Limited, see Pierrepont Noyes' reminiscences in My Father's House and A Goodly Heritage, both available through the Mansion House Museum

More recent accounts of the community are found in Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida Community by Spencer Klaw and Oneida: Utopian Community to Modern Corporation by Maren Lockwood Carden (Harper Torchbooks, 1969).

For drawings of all the Community Plate patterns, in date order, see Silverplated Flatware: An.Identification and Value Guide, 4th edition, by Tere Hagan (Collector Books, 1990). This book also illustrates patterns sold with Oneida's other marks and reproductions of catalog pages which show some of the hollowware made to match the Paul Revere, Grosvenor and Bird of Paradise patterns.

My new book, The Community Table, documents the flatware, hollowware, china, and crystal sold by Oneida to match seven of its Community patterns between 1917 and 1936: Adam, Grosvenor, Bird of Paradise, Deauville, Noblesse, Lady Hamilton, and Coronation.

You can see many pictures of Oneida products and promotional materials 
in my albums at the Flickr website.