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Make it sparkle once it is clean

I use Johnson wax Jubilee Kitchen wax on glossy pieces.  I know others that use Turtle wax.
You used to be able to order this directly from SC Johnson - 800-848-2588 - I do not see it on their website anymore.  I find it quite often at garage sales still.

Once the Hall piece is clean, use a small amount on a soft cloth and spread it over the whole item. Then buff it off. It brightens the gold and makes the whole piece glow.
An eraser works well to take off black marks on Red items.
Soaking
Many have suggested soaking in Biz or Oxyclean.  I always line my sink with a cloth or rubber pad. The Hall glazes seem to stand up well to most soaking methods - even just dish soap and warm water.  Be Careful with decals, gold and Art Glazes (Chinese Red, Screaming Yellow, Midnight blue, the translucent art glazes etc.)  I have not tried any of these methods on Gold or decorations so try it first on a chipped or cheap piece.  On art glaze I only use mild dish soap (NOT dishwasher soap!)
The above web site says to NEVER use bleach (or anything that contains bleach)!  I know that many Hall collectors do soak their Hall in bleach (NO GOLD!) - I do not know if this is OK or not but it can sometimes make a "spider" "disappear" - but does it damage the clay?  A peroxide soak can also make a "spider" "disappear" (see link above).
Here is a reason NOT to use bleach:
"The reason not to use bleach on china is that the molecular structure of bleach is such that it keeps expanding - forever I guess. So that even 10 years down the road, it could lift the glaze right off the china. The soft scrub with bleach in it, I would only use on the rough unglazed bottoms - sparingly - and wash right off. In order for the liquid bleach to work, the piece must sit in it for awhile and it soaks into the body of the china and under the glaze where there are pinpoints of unglazed areas. A chemist can verify about the bleach continuing to expand. Hope this helps and keeps people from using bleach on their china!!" Barbara Johnson.
Dishwasher
Not for Art Glazes, Pearl or Gold (Gold on any fine china should not be put through the dishwasher) but other items seem to do very well (I don't know about decals).  When I get a dirty piece of Hall the dishwasher often does the first cleaning.  I will skip the dry cycle so that anything left on is not baked on.  If the item is rare or expensive I certainly would NOT use the dishwasher!  I had a teapot once with a repair I did not know about - the dishwasher removed that repair and I had a nice clean chip to look at.  (Note: Art glazes and gold can be damaged both from the dishwasher soap and from the heat of the dishwasher and dry cycle)
Linen (like Autumn leaf table cloths)
Awhile back I purchased a sad little Autumn Leaf table cloth (and I don't even collect patterned Hall items but I do like linens) - a couple small holes and VERY badly stained. It was cheap so I bought it and I used it at the Hall Haul to place my sale items on. Well that sad little table cloth is now bright with out a stain to be found. A nice linen dealer told me how to remove the stains:
First wash the cloth (either by hand or in the washing machine if it is sturdy) so that the loose dirt is removed.
In a plastic lidded bucket put a heavy dose of BIZ laundry detergent and boiling water.
Then soak the color fast, cotton items for days (or even weeks). If after a few days it is still stained you may want to heat the water again.  
Move it around in the bucket every now and then. 

I had washed that table cloth and even used special spot remover but those stains were not even phased until I soaked them this way. I have now done several badly stained cotton items this way - they all are bright now and the stains are gone! Now I just need to learn to darn to fix those holes.

Save that China from an Earthquake (natural or cause by Children or Adults running by)
Lids can be held on with low temperature hot melt glue.  This comes right off under hot water when you want to remove it.  This is really good for those lids that sit on at an angle.
Remember to NOT use tape on any Gold or Pearl glaze.

Hold the item in place with "quakehold" or even just removable mounting putty (any office supply store).  I have found that for Hall China the blue removable mounting putty works even better than quakehold. I have done this to some of my China but I need to do it to more.  We do shake now and then in California.
A drastic cleaning process

Awhile back I purchased several casseroles and custards (for very cheap!) that were absolutely filthy with burned on food and who knows what else. I tried the normal soak and clean methods but they were still horrible. Since I had very little invested and the items were NOT rare I tried a very drastic cleaning method.

THE DISCLAIMERS: If you try this I would try it only on cheap common pieces (broken pieces also make good test subjects) until you verify if your cleaner does damage or not!!! I would NOT try this on anything rare or precious. It takes off burned on food and sometimes the brown that is often on the underside of the lid on casseroles (it does not take off scuffs and black or metal type marks) It did no damage that I could find. Everything was bright and shiny and very clean! It did not damage the decals. I would NOT use this on any art glaze pieces or gold. I tried it on Screaming Yellow and it was OK but those glazes are so different (even from batch to batch) that I would NOT try it on any art glaze piece I was not willing to throw away (that is how bad and cheap the casserole was)! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

THE CLEANER: OVEN cleaner (I used a generic brand)

THE METHOD:

  1. Put the china in the oven. Turn on the oven to warm (200 degrees maybe) let the oven and the china preheat
  2. Turn the oven OFF
  3. Remove the china and put it in a shallow heavy cardboard box (or something else that the oven cleaner won't hurt)
  4. While the china is still warm take the China outside and spray the dirty areas with the oven cleaner. (You can do only the white unglazed dirty parts if you like) Outside is to save everyone from the smell of the oven cleaner.
  5. Put the sprayed china back (in the cardboard box) back in the warm oven - do NOT turn the oven back on.
  6. Leave for several hours
  7. Protect your hands, as recommended on the oven cleaner, and remove the china (the box may be a bit soggy so leave it in the oven and remove the china - you don't want to drop it!) and put the china in warm water in your sink
  8. Remove the box and throw it away
  9. Wash off the china in warm water

AGAIN USE AT YOUR OWN RISK - like I said my stuff was so dirty I thought I might throw it away if I could not get it clean. I was very happy with the results - most the pieces looked brand new when I was done. And that casserole (Screaming Yellow) was now worth keeping and displaying but had other scratches and marks so it will never be "perfect".