Who made this plate?

September 9, 2010 7:06 AM

Anyone have any idea who made this plate? I recently found a beautiful plate at a charity shop, but half of the maker's mark has worn off. It is cream with 3 hand painted orange-red poppies and a green edge, and I think it may be from the 1930s. I don't think it's particularly valuable, but I'd like to see if I can find anything to match it. There are a few pictures on my Flickr page. I've tried Googling, but haven't found anything yet.
posted by bibliophibianj to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

At the top - "Royal [something] Ware"?

At the bottom - made somewhere in England?
posted by carter at 7:12 AM on September 9, 2010

You might contact Patterns of the Past. Jyl is my mom's high school pal, and my mom spent a few days working with her this year. They know pretty much everything there is to know about china. I bet she could give you some leads even describing it over the phone.
posted by Madamina at 7:14 AM on September 9, 2010

It's possible that it was sold as a blank, and then decorated by the purchaser. I haven't seen that particular pattern before, but of course I haven't seen all the plates out there :) It may be a bit earlier than the 1930's, possibly the teens. The plate itself looks similar to blanks sold by Harker Pottery - they sold them by the tens of thousands, maybe even more, to companies and individuals to decorate as they liked. Many were made into state souvenir plates, church commemorative plates, all kinds of designs. Stores gave them away as premiums and promotions. Individuals bought the blanks to make their own hand-painted items. This was a really popular hobby. Harker was active from the 1890s to the 1970s. This pattern looks similar to those plates from the 10s-30ish.

It's possible, therefore, that there is nothing else with the same pattern on it.
posted by infodiva at 7:18 AM on September 9, 2010

Oops - that will teach me to not look closely... I see that it can't be Harker. Anyway, it's still possible that it was a blank sold by the Royal whatever company, and handpainted as a hobby.
posted by infodiva at 7:19 AM on September 9, 2010

Oh! It looks like Royal Venton Ware, J. Steventon and Sons (look at the fourth row). I think it's referred to online as "Steventon" or "John Steventon ware."

Unfortunately, the pattern doesn't look like anything I've seen on these sites. They have one called "Poppy," but it's much more detailed.

Before I saw infodiva's comment, I was also thinking that it could be a blank. so that might be it.
posted by Madamina at 7:23 AM on September 9, 2010

I'm also inclined to say it is a blank that the purchaser painted. Here is some history on blank china that was sold to be painted.
posted by jeanmari at 7:29 AM on September 9, 2010

Looks hand decorated to me. You could try Replacements.com.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:03 AM on September 9, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. I hadn't thought of plate painting as a hobby, but that idea definitely seems to fit.
posted by bibliophibianj at 5:29 AM on September 13, 2010