Plate XL.
Old China.
| Shelf 4. | Turner Jug, Newhall, Chinese, Newhall. |
| ” 3. | Liverpool, Davenport Jug, Worcester. |
| ” 2. | Swansea, Nantgarw. |
| ” 1. | Plates: Coalport, Minton, Worcester, Coalport. Cups and Saucers: Minton, Leeds, Bristol, Rockingham, Pinxton. |
Plate XLI.
LOWESTOFT ([PLATE XL])
Before you set out to collect Lowestoft it would be as well if you learned something about it, for as no marks are known of in connection therewith it makes a most convenient name to conjure with. I have had all sorts of stuff offered to me as Lowestoft. After I had coached myself up I rambled out one day to endeavour to make a start and you will scarcely credit it but at the first shop I came to I was successful. After going through the china that was visible I worked my way to the back where I found a few plates and odds and ends jumbled together, and after turning them over came across the pair of small blue hand-painted plates shown. I was told the plates had been in the window ever so long, but as nobody wanted them I could have them for a shilling each. I have found the other two odd plates quite at haphazard, and they were treated as just ordinary old ware by people who have not sunk deep into the mysteries of porcelain and glazing. Three cups and a saucer in blue, also a cup and saucer with basket and garland floral decoration in colours, make up the lot after including the teapot to which I have already alluded as probably one of the earliest pieces, owing to the way in which the design had run causing its smudged appearance. The handle-less cup may be Longton Hall.
BRISTOL
To the group Shelf 3, [Plate XLII], I think it worth while to call special attention. To begin with I invested one shilling on the handle-less cup blue and gold, marked “T,” and I concluded this identified it with Tebo and Bristol; next I was sold the blue-and-white coffee cup marked with crossed swords and guaranteed “Worcester”; then I bought the spill-holder with crossed swords. All these at different times and places. Later I spotted a dirty teapot, with no mark and no gilt, which when washed looked well. It was evidently closely related to the coffee-cup in decoration and age, and was undoubtedly old Bristol. Then my faith in the “T” mark wavered, and when a few days after I saw a feeding-cup which appeared new, and which on handling revealed the “T” again, I began to feel cheap. Anyway, this settled the doubt I had in my mind and convinced me that while I had found an old Bristol piece which had copied the Dresden mark I had been deceived by “Dresden” faking the old Bristol mark. I show the two wastrels alongside the absolutes to illustrate my perplexity; certainly the soft paste, hand decoration, and very little gilt remaining helped to take me down. I wonder which of the copyists originated the design? “T” on this class has meant taboo since.