“Now you are pumping. If you get any more without handles, will you save them for me? Good day.”
DERBY (SHELF 4, [PLATE XXXIX])
The cup and saucer on the right are richly decorated in heavy gold only, and are marked. Those at the left end are painted with rural scenery, and I was surprised to find they were Derby. The part-set of handsome Crown Derby will be easily identified by the typical handwork, which is of good early production.
SPODE (SHELVES 2 AND 3, [PLATE XXXIX])
I give several specimens representing this prolific factory, and although none of them is marked, I feel sure they are correctly classified. There is a substantial portion of a family tea service of old Spode on the third shelf, to which I have added some cups and saucers of the same design, but whiter in the body. These all have the well-known Mandarin design as decoration with the typical bright green in evidence. The teapot, sugar bowl, and specimen cups and saucers on the shelf below call for no special comment.
LEEDS
I give on Shelf 1, [Plate XLI], a charming specimen of some cups and saucers printed in maroon and gilt, and on Shelf 1, [Plate XLII], a blue-and-white cup and saucer bearing a square imitation Chinese mark. On “Grandfather Phillips,” Plate III, there is an example of old Leeds pottery, hand painted in blue, with an early Oriental design. I was in doubt where this bowl emanated from, but I am now convinced it is Leeds, for I have just bought a perfect rich blue-and-white Leeds Queen’s ware coffee pot of similar design and glaze. It has a twin twisted handle with flower knob, and cost less than the price of this book. A basket-pattern dish in fine condition appears on [Plate XV].
FRENCH PORCELAIN
At the head of [Plate XLII] you will see a covered potpourri jar and a pair of 8-inch beakers, together with two mugs. I found four of these things at Folkestone, while one mug, with the coat-of-arms of the Earl of Arundel worked into the decoration, I got in Kendal. When I was in Folkestone in 1912 I was hopelessly puzzled as to what this stuff could be. In another shop I had examined a bowl of the same make bearing an imitation Chinese mark, and as up to then I had learnt that only English china was soft—which all these pieces were—I could not understand where it came from. After comparing notes with Mr. J. F. Blacker, who had previously written me very kindly when answering my queries, I felt satisfied it was made in France of a soft quality to suit the English market. The decoration is by hand, and is a mixture between Chelsea and Oriental design. Lots of this stuff has been called Lowestoft, and about that time in an up-to-date shop I saw something like it which I felt sure had not long come over from the Continent. Soon after this holiday I was asked to call at a house near home to look at two “Lowestoft” vases which had just been sent them, and I found they were similar modern Continental. I believe my specimens are about a hundred years old.