King George VI Souvenirs (and other related items)

King George VI ('Prince Albert' Frederick Arthur George) was born at York Cottage, Sandringham, United Kingdom on 14th December 1895. Queen Victoria, his great grandmother was on the throne of England at the time of his birth.
He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey on 26th April 1923. Being the second son of King George V, George was not expected to inherit the throne, however, things changed for George when his elder brother, Edward VIII, abdicated to marry the divorced American socialite, Wallis Simpson. Thus George VI was crowned king on 12th May 1937 at his coronation in Westminster Abbey and reigned until his death on 6th February 1952.


As with most of the English monarchs, many souvenirs of their significant life events were produced. Below are just a few from my own personal collection.

Souvenir books, such as "Our Royal Family" provide a wealth of both formal and candid photographs, of King George VI and his family life. This hardcover, cloth bound book was published by The Sun News-Pictorial in Melbourne in about 1949.

(The above portrait of King George VI was taken from this book, "Our Royal Family")

This beautiful painting of the coronation, by Frank O. Salisbury, is featured on both the front and back inside cover pages of the book "Our Royal Family".

Detail of the intricately embossed cloth bound cover of  "Our Royal Family".

Ceramic souvenir cup of the 1937 Coronation of King George VI  . 

The title ' EMPEROR OF INDIA' (or EMPRESS during Queen Victoria's reign) was used by the British monarchy from 1876 until 1948 when India gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

This Norville Ware cup was produced by C & E Limited, England.

The long running "The Illustrated London News" produced a Royal Silver Wedding Number on May 1 1948 to commemorate the 25th wedding anniversary of King George VI and Elizabeth (also known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). The magazine featured an elaborately adorned cover and a 12 page full colour centre section featuring some wonderful photos of the Royal Family, two of which are reproduced below.

The official wedding photo of the King and Queen from April 26, 1923.

Lovely family photo taken at Buckingham Palace in 1942, featuring the King and Queen with their two daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.

Souvenir plate produced for the cancelled 1949 Royal Visit to Australia. This was to be the first Royal Visit by a reigning monarch but was cancelled at the last minute due to the King's failing health. This proved to be rather unfortunate for the manufacturers of the royal visit souvenirs. I wonder what happened to most of these now not required souvenirs? Obviously some have survived!

Another royal tour to Australia was planned for 1952, this time by Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. Unfortunately, this tour had to be cancelled before it was even half way through when her father, King George VI, died. It wasn't until two years later, 1954, that a reigning monarch would finally visit Australia.

Crest detail on 1949 Royal Visit plate.

This Royal Tudor Ware plate was produced by Barker Bros. Ltd, England

Children's china was another popular area for the souvenir manufacturers. This Baby's Plate was produced as a souvenir of Princess Margaret Rose's birth in 1930. The plate is decorated with two lovebirds (budgerigars) and marguerite and rose flower designs referring to the given names of the princess. This design proved to be very popular at the time.

Souvenir details from the back of the Baby's Plate.

How many more souvenirs were produced during the reign of King George VI? I'm not sure anyone would really know, but it would probably numbers in the thousands.

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.