Tea Sets
1960s English George I Vintage Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
Early 20th Century Regency Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
1730s German Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
1790s British George III Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
Late 18th Century George III Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
1820s English George IV Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
1770s English Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Pottery
19th Century English Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Silver
18th Century English Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Wood, Mahogany
Early 19th Century English Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
20th Century English Georgian Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
1730s English George II Antique Tea Sets
Silver
1960s English George I Vintage Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
Late 19th Century European George III Antique Tea Sets
Silver
Mid-20th Century American Georgian Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
1890s Belgian Regency Antique Tea Sets
Silver
Early 19th Century English George III Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
1920s English George II Vintage Tea Sets
Silver, Sterling Silver
18th Century English George III Antique Tea Sets
Silver, Sterling Silver
Early 19th Century English Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
Early 19th Century English Regency Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
1790s English Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
1770s Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
1910s English George II Vintage Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
1820s English Regency Antique Tea Sets
Silver, Sterling Silver
Early 2000s Italian Georgian Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
Mid-18th Century English George III Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
1810s English George III Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
Late 18th Century English George III Antique Tea Sets
Tin
19th Century English George III Antique Tea Sets
Silver Plate
18th Century English George II Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
Early 19th Century English George IV Antique Tea Sets
Silver
18th Century English Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Sterling Silver
19th Century English Regency Antique Tea Sets
Mother-of-Pearl, Rosewood
19th Century Dutch Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Copper
Early 1800s English George III Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
1810s English Regency Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
Antique, New and Vintage Tea Sets
Ready to serve high tea and brunch for your family and friends? Start with the right antique, new or vintage tea set.
Tea is a multicultural, multinational beverage and isn’t confined to any particular lifestyle or age group. It has humble beginnings, and one of its best-known origin stories places the first cups of tea in 2700 B.C. in China, where it was recognized for its medicinal properties. Jump ahead to 17th-century England, when Chinese tea began to arrive at ports in London. During the early 1800s, tea became widely affordable, and the concept of teatime took shape all over England. Today, more than 150 million people reportedly drink tea daily in the United States.
Early tea drinkers enjoyed their beverage in a bowl, and English potters eventually added a handle to the porcelain bowls so that burning your fingers became less of a teatime hazard. With the rise in the popularity of teatime, tea sets, also referred to as tea service, became a hot commodity.
During Queen Victoria’s reign, teakettles and coffeepots were added to tea services that were quite large — indeed, small baked goods were served with your drink back then, and a tea set could include many teacups and saucers, a milk pot and other accessories.
During the early 1920s, a sterling-silver full tea service and tray designed by Tiffany & Co. might include a hot-water kettle on a stand, a coffeepot, teapot, a creamer with a small lip spout, a waste bowl and a bowl for sugar, which the British were stirring into tea as early as the 18th century.
But you don’t have to limit your tea set to Victorian or Art Deco styles — shake up teatime with an artful contemporary service. If the bold porcelain cups and saucers by Italian brand Seletti are too unconventional for your otherwise subdued tea circle, find antique services on 1stDibs from Japan, France and other locales as well as vintage mid-century modern tea sets and neoclassical designs.