Wedgwood Royal 1939 King George & Queen Elizabeth United States Visit plate for Sale

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Wedgwood Royal 1939 King George & Queen Elizabeth United States Visit plate For Sale

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Wedgwood Royal 1939 King George & Queen Elizabeth United States Visit plate:
$60.00

This plate is in very good condition for a 85-year-oldpiece.

The plate measures 9 ½-inches in diameter. It is made of Wedgwood Queensware (cream-colored earthenware). It is number 652 of a limited edition of 3,000 plates.

These plates were made to commemorate the 1939 first ever visit of British sovereigns to the United States. Unlike most significant royal events, this U.S. visit has few commemorative pieces.This plate is quite rare.

The June 1939 royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to the United States came just before the start of World War II in Europe (September 1939). The British Government hoped a royal visit would strengthen ties with the United States and encourage American support in the event of war.

The plate features a pale blue relief portrait of King George VI with a blue banner beneath which reads H.M. (His Majesty) King George VI 1939. The rim above bears the American Eagle, the date 1939 and the words “Friendship Makes Peace”. The relief/embossing on the plate’s rim contains roses, shamrocks, thistles, and celtic harps. These are the symbols for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland (the British Monarch continued as Head of State of Ireland until 1948).

The words on the plate’s underside read:

Commemorating First Visit of British Reigning Sovereigns To The United States In 1939

Made Exclusively For W.H. Plummer & Co., Ltd. New York

Wedgwood Etruria England

Issue Limited to 3000 Of Which This Is 652

The plate’s underside also bears the impressed “Wedgwood" stamp and the impressed Wedgwood year code for 1941.

As stated above, this plate is in quite good condition considering its age.

The plate has three long glaze craze lines to the right of the King’s silhouette and in a around the embossed rim area to the right of those. The three lines measure 1¾-inches, 3 ¾-inches, and 3 ½-inches.The crazed area around the embossed rim measures 1 by 3-inches. There is some glaze crazing of the plate’s underside around the center stamps and words, and on the rim area to the left of that.

There are two very tiny brown/yellow spots, about an inch apart, on the plate’s outer rim. You haveto look at the plate sideways to see them.While they might be small glaze age spots, I think they are more likely original to manufacture as they look to me to be in the glaze and not on top of the glaze. One is pinpoint sized, and the other is 1/16-inch at most.

On the plate’s underside (on the foot ring) is a very tiny shallow ding. It measures 1/16 inch long and 1/30-inch wide. It is extremely tiny– I have to look very closely to find it.

The plate has peg marks on its underside from the peg stands it rested on during the manufacturing process.There are a few very tiny faint blue spots (plate underside) left by the artist. There are a few pinpoint sized (or smaller) mineral deposits and glaze bubbles/pops. All of the above are original to manufacturing and are common to Wedgwood of this type and age.

This pate is a beautifully designed piece commemorating an important historic event. These plates are pictured and discussed in both Lincoln Hallinan’s (British Commemoratives) and Eric Knowle’s (Royal Memorabilia) boos on the subject. This plate is a rare and significant piece.