We’ve been working on adding more gift ideas to our suggestions and wanted to clarify what the difference is between China, Pottery, Porcelain and Bone China as each of these are a different symbol used for various anniversaries.

This is what our research concluded from our prospective:

Pottery (Traditional 8th Wedding Anniversary gift symbol) is a very generic term.  It is generally used to refer to items made from clay.  Within this context I think it refers to handmade items by the artisan, or craftsperson using their hands, molds, or a potter’s wheel.

China (Traditonal 20th Wedding anniversary gift symbol), in this context, refers to a ceramic dinnerware coming out of the country of China which was particularly fine and generally with a white base.  The mineral Kaolin is used to achieve this look. Typically it refers to any high quality, natural material (as opposed to man made) ceramic, dinnerware or otherwise.

Bone china, which is a generic term actually contains bone ash added to the clay and was the English response to china’s high quality porcelain exports. It’s characteristics give it whiteness and translucency that is often considered better that chinese porcelain however its high manufacture costs have always kept it in the luxury market rather than the broad spectrum some porcelains enjoy.

Porcelain (Modern 18th Wedding anniversary gift symbol) is the term used to refer to high quality ceramics typically originating from the China region.  Kaolin is used in the manufacture, and it is usually delicate however it is also relatively tough. With good quality Porcelain you should be able to see the shadow of your fingers if you hold it up to the light with your  fingers behind it.