Found this at a thrift store for 45 cents, Oh wouldn't it be grand

If it were really his signature, and I don't know who beatrice dowler is, pretty cool though lol







Sorry if I chose the wrong forum

Nice pattern and it would be
grand if it was his signature.
I have found some great stuff
at thrift stores in the past.
Was an antique dealer for
30 plus years, was always
searching for treasure.

Probably not his signature but the person who gave him the plate
If it could be varified that it belonged to him it may be worth something

reply to post by crazydaisy


Oh wow, I would love to learn about antiques, I never realized the treasures that thriftstores really have and would love to find that pot o gold so to say lol, I found a charm from 1976 that celebrated the bicentennial and its worth 50 bucks, bought it for 75 cents, also found a silver unicorn pendant worth 70 bucks and got that for 1 dollar, so its definitely fun!!

Originally posted by granpabobby
Probably not his signature but the person who gave him the plate
If it could be varified that it belonged to him it may be worth something

I have for the past 30 minutes been looking it up and found out that beatrice dowler was his maid, OH MAN, thats cool, wonder if it is worth something!! getting excited lol

I love stuff like that.......I love thrift shops, charity shops, that kind of thing.......

What I find weird, is why on earth the plate should have Howard Hughes and his housekeeper Beatrice Dowler's name on the back. Most people know who HH is, but his housekeeper? Who the hell knew who she was?

Must be there for a reason on the back of the plate, otherwise, if somebody was trying to play a joke wouldn't they just write Howard Hughes on the back?

A strange little mystery, I like that.......

What is the manufacturers name on the back of the plate, does it say? If so, tell us who............

Originally posted by davethebear
I love stuff like that.......I love thrift shops, charity shops, that kind of thing.......

What I find weird, is why on earth the plate should have Howard Hughes and his housekeeper Beatrice Dowler's name on the back. Most people know who HH is, but his housekeeper? Who the hell knew who she was?

Must be there for a reason on the back of the plate, otherwise, if somebody was trying to play a joke wouldn't they just write Howard Hughes on the back?

A strange little mystery, I like that.......

I know me too!!, and you know I found this in a salvation army thriftstore on the south side of Chicago, definitely a mystery that I am finding a lot of stuff about, I just read that HH liked to buy china dishes that were floral print for the b list celebrities and then smash every one of them to smitherines when they were done eating off of them, what if this survived and Beatrice Dowler secretly kept one!! so fun!!, i want to go back to that thrift store lol

Originally posted by hapablab

Originally posted by davethebear
I love stuff like that.......I love thrift shops, charity shops, that kind of thing.......

What I find weird, is why on earth the plate should have Howard Hughes and his housekeeper Beatrice Dowler's name on the back. Most people know who HH is, but his housekeeper? Who the hell knew who she was?

Must be there for a reason on the back of the plate, otherwise, if somebody was trying to play a joke wouldn't they just write Howard Hughes on the back?

A strange little mystery, I like that.......

I know me too!!, and you know I found this in a salvation army thriftstore on the south side of Chicago, definitely a mystery that I am finding a lot of stuff about, I just read that HH liked to buy china dishes that were floral print for the b list celebrities and then smash every one of them to smitherines when they were done eating off of them, what if this survived and Beatrice Dowler secretly kept one!! so fun!!, i want to go back to that thrift store lol

edit on 9-9-2011 by hapablab because: (no reason given)

Wow, this is turning more interesting, especially about the buying of china plates and then smashing them....would be handy to know if HH or the housekeeper actually wrote on the plates.....may be a plate that is frantically being searched for by somebody, who knows....keeep searching for info.............any manufacturer name on the plate? Who is it made by?

Im sorry I lost my internet connection for a while, its a noritake china plate with the number 5147 and the word roselane under the numbers.

I sat for about 2 hours reading about this, there is a few books about him with excerpts on the net that talk about beatrice and even a book written by Katherine hepburn that says the same thing about the china plates, makes you wonder, man I hope its his writing, I heard he rarely signed autographs so its worth a pretty penny to have one, how cool.

Here is a link to an autograph done by HH on a music score from 1955, but this was done in fountain pen, long before felt pens were introduced..........interesting though.....still cannot understand why someone would write those two names in the back of a china plate.............hahaha

guaranteedautographs.com...

Originally posted by davethebear
Here is a link to an autograph done by HH on a music score from 1955, but this was done in fountain pen, long before felt pens were introduced..........interesting though.....still cannot understand why someone would write those two names in the back of a china plate.............hahaha

guaranteedautographs.com...

Thanks for the link and taking the time to look but darn not even close to the printing on the plate lol, it's also done with a marker, someone was going thru it and labeled it with the names for some reason, I would love to know who though, like you said its weird the names are both on the plate, I do know now that these plates were made from 1950 to 1955 then discontinued so they were around during those hollywood HH years lol.

Originally posted by hapablab

Originally posted by davethebear
Here is a link to an autograph done by HH on a music score from 1955, but this was done in fountain pen, long before felt pens were introduced..........interesting though.....still cannot understand why someone would write those two names in the back of a china plate.............hahaha

guaranteedautographs.com...

Thanks for the link and taking the time to look but darn not even close to the printing on the plate lol, it's also done with a marker, someone was going thru it and labeled it with the names for some reason, I would love to know who though, like you said its weird the names are both on the plate, I do know now that these plates were made from 1950 to 1955 then discontinued so they were around during those hollywood HH years lol.

edit on 10-9-2011 by hapablab because: (no reason given)

Well at least you are learning something about antique china plates, if nothing else.hahaha.........still intrigued though, just can't understand who or why somebody would add those two names to the plate......amazing how the most simplest things can turn you into Sherlock Holmes....haha

Well the most simple explanation that I can come up with is that either a niece or nephew of Beatrice, was left/came into possession of this plate. That would explain the "aunt" before her name. I imagine that she took one from one of these smash your dinnerware parties back in the day and kept it as a memento of her legendary and eccentric employer. As she got older she told everyone (probably repeatedly) the tales of his parties and how she was fortunate enough to sneak or take or perhaps was even given this plate by Howard after it was left unused during a party. She passed it on and someone marked the back in this manner to remember and let it be known that this plate belonged to Howard Hughes and was given to them by Aunt Beatrice.

My advice if you are really trying to get to the bottom of this search out her nieces and nephews and if they are no longer with us then proceed from there. Happy hunting and Please let us know how your search goes

That is all

Trowa