Golden Bend Shop: A Hidden World of Porcelain

Golden Bend is a small shop on the Herengracht that is easily overlooked. When you go down the stairs, you enter a room filled with porcelain, stacked almost to the ceiling. You will find here tableware from the nineteenth century to pieces from the 1960s, featuring brands like Wedgwood, Rosenthal, and Hutschenreuther. The shop is tiny and you walk down a narrow aisle past stacked plates, saucers, cups and more.

A Collection that Grew Slowly

Golden Bend has been located in the basement of a canal house for thirty years. The shop began as a private collection of American hotel tableware. Owner Dorothee Verdaasdonk travelled to America herself to purchase tableware. She visited well-known American porcelain factories like Homer Laughlin in West Virginia and Syracuse in New York, and bought durable hotel tableware that is dishwasher- and oven-safe.

Durable Hotel Porcelain 

This porcelain was made for hotels, restaurants, businesses, and elegant clubs and does not easily break. Moreover, it is decorated with beautiful patterns from the 1930s, often with gold edges. She brought back pallets full of it. This tableware is no longer produced as the factories closed down. Purchases are now mainly made through Dutch dealers who know exactly which tableware suits the store.

Tableware Meant to be Used

The collection ranges from nineteenth-century tableware to pieces from the 1950s and 1960s. Brands like Wedgwood, Rosenthal, and Hutschenreuther are displayed side by side. Prices remain low. Dorothee wants people to use the tableware, not keep it in a display case. The low prices will surprise you, and you will find things here that are often much more expensive online.

Carefully Navigate between Tableware

When there are several customers, you will have to maneuver a bit between the stacked dishes. There is little room to walk, let alone pass each other. Occasionally, something gets knocked over and breaks, but Dorothee usually remains calm. Only when someone pretends nothing happened while there are shards lying around does she ask for a few euros in compensation. Not to get rich, but because honesty is important.

Address: Herengracht 510, Amsterdam
Opening hours: Thurs to Sat 12:30 PM – 5:00 PM.