FRENCH POTTERS FUMES!

FRANCE'S EIysee presidential palace moved swiftly one last Saturday to protect one of the nation's historic brands after discovering mugs stamped ''Limoges porcelain'' and destined for its souvenir shop were likely made in China.

A spokesman told AFP. ''The Elysee will stop working with Mug in France,'' the company allegedly supplying fake products bearing the exclusive Limoges name.

The mugs, which were to be sold at the  palace shop, were not made in Limoges and more likely not even in France, according to the experts.

The branding faux pas has piqued  the ire of  porcelain potters in Limoges in the  central Haute-Vienne region who made some of the most expensive ceramics  in the world.

Alan Mouly, who heads the  union of  Limoges porcelain workers, said he was alerted to the problem in a meeting in late August.

''I asked the audience who made these products and they all laughed. It has been a very long time since any potter  here has made porcelain mugs,'' he told AFP.

''The product has become too dear, it doesn't sell and doesn't fit the profile of Limoges porcelain. Most of these mugs are now made in Asia.''

Limoges was built on porcelain, with production starting after  1768  when it was found to be a rich source of  white kaolin clay, transferring the area into a major producer.

But since December, only pottery which has been  entirely made  and decorated in the  Haute-Vienne  can carry  the  'Limoges porcelain'  after the region was awarded the status of a  protected geographical indication [IGP].

Although the  mock mugs were actually decorated in France, that was done in the southern city of  Toulouse, Mouly said.

''It's ridiculous. The state lets you have this geographical indication but it can't even control the products  that it ends up buying itself,'' he said.

''We don;t know about the protected  geographic origin,''  Mug in France founder  Jean-Charles  Granchamp   told AFP.

He said they had destroyed the  offending products  and sent  300 other  French porcelain mugs to the  palace   -without saying where they were made.

the palace souvenir shop stocks  50 product lines  with profits used to help pay to renovate the EIysee building. [Agencies]