Noritake Royal Orchard 9416 Salt and Pepper Shaker

I was with my sister today, and we ended up going to my favourite Gourdo's outlet store. She was looking for a soap dish, and they had an entire bathroom set there on sale at PhP 75.00 only. So I got her two sets.

There was also a nice porcelain tea pot in the store which was only PhP 90.00, so I purchased a piece.

The piece de resistance, however, was the Noritake Royal Orchard 9416 salt and pepper shaker they had on sale. 

A couple weeks back, I purchased from the same store a pair of Noritake Opulence salt and pepper shakers. They were on sale, presumably at 70% off.

Now, this design was on sale at roughly the same amount.

It says on the bottom Noritake Japan, which means it came from Noritake, Japan. Noritake used to have a factory producing sets here in Manila, run by Porcelanosa Mariwasa, Inc., and it was located in Marikina, before.

I got a pair, and I have yet to decide whether this will be used on the dinner table, to replace the Gourdo's Swan salt and pepper shaker I purchased from their store in BGC, or if it goes in the antique china cabinet for display. 

Either way, it was such a good buy!

Noritake Salt and Pepper Shaker from Gourdo's

After purchasing the Essence wax warmer, I discovered an As Is Where Is store by Gourdo's. It sells damaged items, and some product overruns of the stores. And lo and behold, I was able to spot some quality products that were obviously unappreciated, but worth so much.

I saw a salt and pepper shaker set from Noritake's Opulence collection:

Now my mother raised me to have a keen eye for the finer things in life, and she practically brainwashed me that the china of choice for the dining table is Noritake. 

Noritake used to have a factory here in Manila, hence purchasing fine china back then was quite easy. Ever since they pulled out, however, the Noritake fix had to come with the expensive price tag that it is well-known for. 

We used to have Noritake dinner service from its Valhalla collection. But then, that was years ago, and the gold edges have already faded. There are some pieces that are still usable though. 

If you were to look underneath the china, you would see which country it was manufactured in. Most of the Noritake plates sold locally are now manufactured in Sri Lanka, however the more expensive ones are those made in Japan. 

This salt and pepper shaker set that Gourdo's put on sale at such an affordable price of PhP 300.00 was made in Japan, so I had to snatch up a set before anybody else discovers it. Definitely a treasure trove of Noritake pieces in that store! There's actually another Noritake salt and pepper shaker set from the Gourmet Harvest Royal Orchard Collection, which I definitely plan on buying. Maybe, I should start a salt and pepper shaker collection?