Wednesday 27 June 2012

Baby's Plates

As well as baby feeders, I also collect baby's plates. This started out as a couple of plates to go with my baby feeders and is now a small collection of baby's plates, cups, jugs, etc. Basically any children's or infant's china ware and the older the better.

Just some of my baby's plates
Above is a photo of just part of this collection and below are some photos of some of the individual plates.



First up is this oval shaped baby's plate featuring brownies (imaginary little sprites).


I found this plate in an antique shop in the northern suburbs of Hobart, Tasmainia while on holidays last year. It is made by the English company "GRIMWADES" at Stoke On Trent in 1900-10. It features a group of little brownies playing harmless pranks and also trying to do good deeds for some humans. I particularly like the way that the blue sky and white clouds continue over the edge of the plate. There is another similar brownies plate, although round instead of oval, also available from this same company.
Backstamp of Brownies Baby's Plate by Grimwades


Next is a round baby's plate featuring decoration by Mabel Lucy Attwell.


I bought this plate on eBay last year from a Queensland seller. It is made by that well known English company, "Shelley", and would date from about 1930-40. Mabel Lucy Attwell was very well known for her drawings of little children with rosy cheeks playing with fairies. These fairies are also known as 'Boo Boos'. She decorated many items with them for the Shelley company. This plate features a rhyme explaining the predicament the little girl is in with the see saw. Apparently fairies are a lot lighter than a small child, hence the fairies being stuck up in the air on their end of the see saw.
Backstamp of Mabel Lucy Attwell Baby's Plate by Shelley


The third baby's plate is a royal commemorative plate featuring budgerigars.


I found this baby's plate on a stall at Collectorama last year. It doesn't look like a royal commemorative item until you turn it over and read the backstamp. You then see that it was produced to commemorate the birth of Princess Margret Rose, Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister, on the 21st of August 1930. At least this makes the plate easy to date. The plate is made by another English company named Paragon China. Apparently, Paragon started labelling some of their better quality china as Royal Paragon China before they were actually granted a Royal Warrant to do so. Their first Warrant of Appointment was not granted until 1933. This plate features a pair of budgerigars amongst some sprays of flowers. Not sure if the budgerigars or flowers have any royal significance. The decoration is a grey transfer print that has later been hand painted.
Backstamp of Commemorative Baby's Plate by Paragon China
First portrait of Princess Margaret Rose with her mother, the Queen Mother,
 from the Illustrated London News November 1, 1930.



The last baby's plate is of semicircular shape featuring nursery rhymes.





This plate was only found by me a week or so ago at an Aladdin's Fair. I was taken with the unusual shape for a baby's plate so had to buy it for my collection. I haven't seen another quite like it. I usually don't make a practice of buying damaged items. This plate does have a small chip on the rim but was reasonably priced and unique enough to make an exception. This is yet another plate from an English company, this time H & K Tunstall. This Staffordshire pottery was in production from 1870 to 1956 when it was incorporated into the Johnson Bros group. According to the unicorn backstamp, this plate would date from between 1933-42. It features two nursery rhyme pictures, Jack & Jill and Simple Simon.

Backstamp of Semicircular Baby's Plate by H & K Tunstall

Stay tuned collectors and I will feature some other baby's plates and cups in a future post.



9 comments:

  1. I have a faded Little Boy Blue baby plate with some chips on the base. would you be interested?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anne, sorry for not replying sooner. As you probably are aware, condition is very important to a collector therefore I would most likely not be interested in your baby plate unless it was special in some way. Does it have any identifying marks on the bottom and do you know how old it is? How bad are the chips and fading? Thanks, John.

      Delete
  2. Do you know anything about a baby's plate with little boy blue and old mother Hubbard. It says on the back Empire Ware E.P. Co Store-On-Trent 4 England 29

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi I have a baby’s plate Registered number is 721563 . It is oval in shape and the rhyme is Oh! mister Rabbit do put up your camp or else you will get most awfully damp. I live in Australia. Jill

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jill, are you asking for information about your plate or thinking of selling it. Please send me a photo of it and the back stamp as well. Thanks

      Delete
  4. Would you be interested in a lovely Grimwades baby brownie plate ? it is titled the Brownies Gym and shows them exercising. I can send pics if I can have your email.

    ReplyDelete
  5. hi there , email me if you wish
    at_the_bach@yahoo.co.nz
    Cheers. Yvette in NZ ( aka Tommytidelmouse )

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have a plate, curious to see what its worth

    ReplyDelete

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