In these last few weeks quite a few pieces found their way to me that were made in England in the late 18th or early 19th Century, but had been inspired by Oriental porcelain. Here I am showing a very wonderful "true trio" with the famous "Boy at the Door" pattern, made by Miles Mason around 1805. A true trio is how cups and saucers were sold in the late 18th and early 19th Century: as you would never drink tea and coffee at the same time, why invest in an extra saucer? So th

This week I have brought out a series of items in simple designs - perhaps it is the lockdown that has inspired me to focus on simplicity. Even though I dearly miss seeing my family, the news brings endless sadness and at times I feel cabin fever, this is also a time of contemplation and appreciation of the simple things in life. So let's focus today on this adorable little creamware demitasse cup from the 1870s in the Aesthetic Movement style. There is much confusion about w

It is spring here in this part of the world! And after a long winter of perpetual greyness, it is an important, if not life saving season for us 🌞. This year, it is strange because we are all limited in our movements - but every minute spent outside is guaranteed to lift you up because of the wonderful flowers everywhere. Which brings me to the topic of this week: the wonderful flowers painted by Thomas Dixon. I never knew about Thomas Dixon until I was lucky enough to be ab

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen what I wrote about a Thomas Rose / Coalport saucer the other day. It was about a saucer with a wonderful strange smiling dragon on it. Today I have a similar treasure, and just as rare: an adorable "Crazy Cow" pattern teacup and saucer. The Crazy Cow pattern was also an imitation of an original Chinese design with a dragon, or perhaps a phoenix. Chinese dragons and phoenixes are not the scary malignant creatures they are

Have you noticed how silent the world has gone? The large metropolis of London, for instance, usually has a 24-hour roar over it that has suddenly gone very quiet. No planes, very little traffic. In a world that is full of tears, anxiety and suffering, we are enjoying clean air and... bird song! I am lucky enough to have a garden, and the bird song has been deafening at times. I found myself looking up the different songs online so I can distinguish them; something I learned

This little boy piper is spreading the good news: as a result of last week's appeal to buy while I would donate 10% of sales to my local food bank I have been able to donate £65 - thank you everyone who contributed! 🙏 In this time of working from home there are many jokes about how we dress - or not. Stories of people accidentally revealing their pyjama bottoms when standing up during a conference call, and people working in their jammies all day 😊 So I thought to upgrade o

Happy Easter! This feels like a strange thing to say in the middle of a global emergency, but the more we realise the fragility of life, the more we should appreciate the beauty that we have. So today I am offering you a way to give, because there is always more to give - again something I realise more as things become more difficult. The last few weeks, and for some of you months, have been difficult. Being locked up at home, far away from your loved ones, is difficult. Run

UPDATE - Thanks to the tireless research of Angela Grant I was made aware that, although right on the cusp of the changeover from Ridgway to Brown, Westhead & Moore, this service was made by Ridgway & Bates! If you are interested to see Angela's terrific research, which is a work in progress and gets added to every week, you can find her here: http://ridgwaypatternbook.org.uk/ I did not adjust the text of this blog post, but please note that my identification was revealed to