Melted snow
- willa
- Oct 3
- 2 min read
It's not quite winter yet, but as the nights are getting longer and colder, I thought to bring your attention to what I think is one of the most charming porcelain shapes in the history of British porcelain.
When the young Samuel Alcock set out to re-launch the ailing factory of Ralph Stevenson in 1822, he must have realised that his was an ambitious endeavour; he entered a crowded market of hundreds of emerging potteries in Staffordshire, many of them producing high quality porcelain. So he needed to come up with some novel designs to catch the imagination of a well-heeled clientele who were looking to outshine their peers and neighbours at their tea and dinner parties.
One of the first designs he produced was the "melted snow" design, sometimes with and sometimes without additional holly leaves. The cups usually came with "double drop" handles. In today's post you can see the many forms this design took, and how widely it was used with all kinds of different decorations.
All the items you see here came from the unique collection of Murray Pollinger, whom you can read more about here. I was lucky enough to be asked to sell off this wonderful collection, and am still unpacking boxes and finding new treasures every week! Murray Pollinger was the first person to deeply research the work of Samuel Alcock. He made an important contribution by deciphering the byzantine system of pattern numbers used by Samuel Alcock, which greatly increased our understanding of this important factory.
The melted snow design was only made for a few years, so it is relatively rare and therefore hard to come by. I feel very lucky to be able to offer so many items in this design, and will not ever come across such a hoard again... and this includes an extremely rare complete dessert service in fabulous condition.
Where to find stock
You can find all my Samuel Alcock items here, and read more about Murray Pollinger here. You can find all my available items here. If you want to stay up to date with new additions, find me on Instagram, where I put up pictures with a story several times a week.
Happy weekend, and get ready for snow! ☃️
This week's melted snow treasures:
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