first class collectible
cobi's house • collecting • organizing • Comments (5)
Can you guess what these dishes were originally used for?
If you can, you might be dating yourself 
One of my favourite things to collect these days is old airline dishes. Yes kids, airplane meals used to be served on china! And even to regular humans sitting in coach!
There’s something romantic about the thought of flying through the air and eating (even airplane food) on Royal Doulton dishes. It’s just so much more special than plastic.
The first time I found these dishes I was at an antique show (the kind that goes to malls, etc.) a few years ago and I just loved using them and giving them as gifts. Since then, I’ve found them at flea markets, junk stores and even Value Village. Of course they’re on ebay too, just plug in ‘airline dishes’ and you’ll get a few pages of results although I have to say the prices are higher on ebay than I’ve had to pay in person (I think my cheapest was $2.00 and highest I’ve paid is $12.00).
I use them for all kinds of things…
• a place to put jewellery or a watch by the kitchen/bathroom sink or bedside table
• keys and change on the hall console
• soap in the powder room
• olives or pistachios when entertaining
• same goes for chocolates with coffee
• hair pins and elastics
• business cards, postit notes, paper clips on my desk
They would be great stacked with little Christmas cookies, candies or fudge and wrapped in cello for teachers gifts at Xmas …hmmm….maybe I should start hitting Value Village more often…
There’s something about the square/rectangular shape that looks neater than a round dish and they’re so strong, they can take the bangin’ around that happens in a busy household. And of course, who can go wrong with white.
So keep an eye out on your travels…it’s even fun to see who’s stamped on the back, so far I have dishes from Air Canada (by Royal Doulton), Canadian Airlines (by Noritake). USAir, American Airlines and United Airlines (by Pfaltzgraff). I’d love to hear if you collect them too!
Comments
I love these old dishes and collect a lot of old airline dining utensils etc.
I received airline dishes, silverware and ashtrays from casinos, motels and most of these are printed. I love them and use for many things. So useful.
What a fun collectible. I was given some ashtrays that were used on Via trains, before smoking was banned. They are small white rectangular dishes and I use them all over the house - I wish I had asked for more! They are very similar to the airline dishes you photographed, in miniature.
I only have a couple of these lovely little dishes but I use them all the time! Mine are from Canadian Airlines and its predecessor, CP Air.
It’s always interesting to see what other people collect. I never would have thought to collect airplane dishes!!
We flew to Nova Scotia on Porter a couple of weeks ago—they have the cutest square bottles of water. Don’t know if they would be worth collecting, but they somehow kick the water-drinking experience up a notch
http://www.design-ties.blogspot.com
Kelly