NEW YORK —  Even the address, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, sounds impressive. The White House in Washington, D.C., where the U.S. President lives and conducts the nation’s business, is not known as the “People’s House” for nothing. As the seat of the Executive branch of the nation, the White House is a source of fascination and pride for its citizens. Countless members of the public have toured its halls, attended holiday events such as the famed Easter Egg Roll, and seen the lavish tree displays in December on television. Its interiors and furnishings have long been of interest, particularly items used by the leaders who once called the White House home. Chief among these is presidential china and dinnerwares.

The category of presidential dinnerware covers everything from the pieces U.S. presidents and their families brought with them to the White House, to official presidential china patterns, to later replicas created to honor specific presidents. Examples from the first two groups entered the market after Congress passed an act in March 1797 allowing President John Adams (the second president, who served from 1797 to 1801) to use public funds to furnish the White House and also sell things considered out of style or unusable. Many of these so-called “castoff” items sold in the 19th century stayed in the D.C. area and descended in those families’ collections, including presidential china.

This coming weekend is President’s Day weekend, centered on a holiday that marks the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 22 and Feb. 12, respectively). Dining wares associated with them and several of the earliest presidents are highly sought after.

While a cabinet in the White House’s China Room holds the personal dining services of President George Washington and President John Adams, other pieces of their china made their way into private collections centuries ago. Owing to their scarcity and these men’s roles in the nation’s founding, china from their presidential services command high prices at auction. Such was the case with a George Washington-owned and -used plate, described as a “birthday feast” plate. It achieved $57,376 plus the buyer’s premium in February 2020 at RR Auction. The white china plate with gilt accents was later given to then-senator and future president Andrew Jackson by Washington’s adopted daughter Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis.

Compared to some presidential china patterns, Washington’s is plain, but that was clearly befitting its ownership. When auctioned, the plate was accompanied by a December 1823 letter from Jackson to his wife, describing the plate as “like the Genl., plain, but elegant, and any thing which has been his property, & used by so great, virtuous, & good man, who achieved so much for his country, is esteemed by me, as it ought,” according to RR Auction.

Lincoln was and remains one of the most popular presidents among collectors, and that extends to dinner wares as well. A celery dish from Lincoln’s White House china service made $75,000 plus the buyer’s premium in September 2021 at Heritage Auctions. Lincoln china ranks among the most desirable presidential china, but it’s more typical for round dinner or dessert plates from the Lincoln service to come to market. The Lincoln oval celery dish was notable for its form and shape. Bought in April 1861 by Mary Todd Lincoln, the service was made by Haviland & Co and features a vivid magenta-purple border in a popular hue known at the time as “solferino.”

China pieces connected with John Adams, the second president, rarely appear at auction, but those relating to his son John Quincy Adams, the country’s sixth president, have been somewhat more available. A grouping of two round dinner plates, each measuring 9¼ inches, was consigned by one of his direct descendants and sold for $5,000 plus the buyer’s premium in December 2022 at Carlsen Gallery, Inc.

A nesting set of three Thomas Jefferson armorial Chinese Export platters made $11,000 plus the buyer’s premium in July 2021 at Eldred’s. Jefferson’s service featured his arms in the center depicting an eagle atop a Neoclassical shield.

While earlier china services were purchased, usually by the First Ladies, for use in the White House, James Monroe (1817-1825) was reportedly the first to commission a dinner service for official use by an American president. He and other important figures were immortalized in transferware items, which gained popularity in the 1820s, during his two-term administration. While not part of his official service, a Paris porcelain demitasse cup with an engraved transferware portrait of the nation’s fifth president brought $8,500 plus the buyer’s premium in December 2016 at Heritage Auctions. In general, Monroe items are scarce; this cup, graced with a stipple-engraved portrait, was a real find that belies the price it realized.

Presidential china is much more than a set of tools meant for feeding high-ranking people; it embodies the tension between the anti-elitist tenets of democracy and the fact that America’s president must hold state dinners for world leaders, with all the pomp and protocol that requires. Dinner wares that trace their provenance to the White House will always be pursued by collectors, even if the president who used them is unmemorable or even a demonstrably terrible person. These cups, plates and platters were literally witnesses to history.