Washington progressed in mantel decoration somewhat beyond the plaster “Lyons” and busts that decorated the home of his early married life. The mantel vases described by Mr. Lossing, and shown in an illustration in his book, were sold in Philadelphia, in February, 1891, for four hundred and fifty dollars each. They stood about eighteen inches high, were decorated with butterflies and flowers on a dark blue ground, and had covers surmounted by the Dog Fo. Other vases which once graced the chimney-pieces of Mount Vernon are still owned by members of the Custis family. The profuse mantel decoration of to-day was, however, undreamt of by him. There are many other pieces of table china now in existence, and proudly shown, that are said to have belonged to Washington. Doubtless their owners consider that they have sufficient proof of the authenticity of their relics, but as I know not the value of their proofs I will not mention their china. I think, with the great number of punch-bowls that once belonged to Washington, and that are mentioned in another chapter, with the vast assortment of rich glass-ware that once was owned by Washington, and that is now in the National Museum, in other public and in many private collections, that the amount of china already named will quite swell up a value far beyond the item in the sworn inventory of the executors of George Washington’s will—“Glass & China in the China Closet, & that up-stairs, & that in the cellar, $800.” What would be a relic-lover’s estimate of the value of that glass and china to-day? XII. PRESIDENTIAL CHINA The sets of china used by other Presidents than Washington, while their various owners were living in the Executive Mansion, deserve to be mentioned and described on account of historic interest, though not always for their value as ceramics, and because specimens of them are within the possibility of possession by a china collector. I think the true china-lover will, however, care little to own any piece of porcelain simply because it is said to have belonged to or was eaten from by some great man—if that be its only virtue; and I am sure will care little for much of the china that has graced the table at the White House.