Rare Antique 1898 Plate by Copeland Spode Blue Warwick Castle Gold Trim PRISTINE for Sale

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Rare Antique 1898 Plate by Copeland Spode Blue Warwick Castle Gold Trim PRISTINE For Sale

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Rare Antique 1898 Plate by Copeland Spode Blue Warwick Castle Gold Trim PRISTINE:
$49.00

What a lovely antique earthenware plate made by Copeland Spode, decorated with a blue transfer painting of the Warwick Castle in England. The plate is 9 inches in diameter with what looks like a a rope edge painted with heavy gold paint on the front, that looks like more of a zig zag pattern on the edge from the back. The center of the plate has an artist’s rendition of Warwick Castle sometime in the past, circled by a pretty design of flowers. The blue transferware design is under glaze.

Over 250 years ago, in 1770, this company was founded by Josiah Spode, and the factory was set up in the heart of the Potteries, Stoke-on-Trent. Later, the Spode company was managed by the Copeland Family and both names were on pieces from 1847-1970. Starting around 1970, the brand name reverted to the name Spode only.

On the back of this plate are several backstamps that give quite a bit of information about the plate, but I will start with the date of manufacture. Copeland Spode imprinted the date of manufacture on some pieces that were a bigger, like saucers and plates, from 1870-1963. It is a letter, for the month, over 2 numbers which are the year. Looking at this plate, I see an A over a 98, which means it was made in April of 1898.

The green backstamp under the glaze with with the C in the center and the words “Manufacturers” down the left side, and “Stoke-on-Trent “ on the right side was used around 1900-1910 according to the book “Spode & Copeland Marks” by Robert Copeland (1993) on page 69, backstamp #254. The book also states that this particular mark is not seen very often.

The blue backstamp with “DELFT” on top and Warwick Castle at the bottom, under the glaze, I wondered about, because Delft is a Dutch city and this is made in England! What I found out was that the word DELFT in this instance refers to the glaze on this plate. It refers to tin-glazed earthenware that was made in the Netherlands and Britain.

The red backstamp on top of the glaze, J McD & S Importers, stands for Jones, McDuffee & Stratton Co. a company founded in 1810 in Boston that imported ceramics from manufacturers in England for sale here in the US. I found an article from 2018, advertising a showing of ceramics they had sold in the early 1900’s. Jones McDuffee and Stratton commissioned English potteries to make US historic scenes, numbering up to 70 subjects including the signing of the Declaration of Independence and Washington crossing the Delaware. Many of these were on display at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum in 2019. So plates made in England, imported by Jones, McDuffee and Stratton are museum quality and have been put on display.

This plate is in excellent and amazing 126 year old shape, with no chips or cracks, or even crazing. When holding it at an angle to the light, I do not see any utensil marks on the glaze either and the glaze is still very shiny. Actually, as I was looking at it, and I saw the date 98, I wondered if it could have possibly been made in 1998, the plate looks so unused. Really, it looks like someone bought the plate and put it on a shelf 126 years go, and I just found it.

Please zoom in on the pictures, as see the 360 degree video for a closer look.

I pack with lots of bubble wrap for sage shipping and ship out quickly, within one business day, sometimes same day, and on Saturdays if I can pack it up and get to the Post Office before they close at noon.

Any questions, please ask, and thanks for looking!!