Featured ID Antique Coalport cup & saucer-ornate gold pattern

I think this is the oldest item from my mother’s Coalport collection, but I wondered if someone can confirm the date (or disagree with it), name the pattern, and/or offer any other information. My mother collected Coalport when my father was transferred to the tiny town of Horsehay, Shropshire, where they lived in 1970. They made numerous friends and loved it. Years after they died, I found this cup & saucer.

On the bottom of the teacup is a paper label with handwritten “Coalport c 1845” with a small circle enclosing a vertical line. On the saucer is a label printed “Ironbridge Antique Centre / Ironbridge 3784” which I assume tells where my mother purchased it. Handwritten in ink are the numbers 29 (upper left), 214 (upper right), and T2 (lower right). In the center is “Coalport- [two illegible words or abbreviations: “brit Ser”?] c1845 £12”. So, I know what she paid. (I think a £ was worth about $2.40 back then.) A second, smaller label on the saucer reads “Coalport c.1845 225 [or 2.25].” Written in gold china paint on the bottom of the saucer (just above the label) are the numbers “4” above “955”.

I hesitate to remove the labels because they provide my only documentation, and I doubted a reputable antique seller would cover any original marks with paper labels. Godden said, “The earliest Coalport porcelain are mostly unmarked,” but I think he is referring to 1795 into the early 19th century. (Geoffrey A. Godden, Encylcopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks, London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1964, rev. ed. 1991, p. 155.)

So, I have questions. How was the cup & saucer identified as Coalport and dated? I assume from the pattern, but where is this pattern identified? Does anyone know any Coalport bibliography that would help? (Geoffrey Godden, Coalport and Coalbrookdale Porcelains, New York: Praeger, 1970, is in a local library but has no info on any of my pieces.)

Does anyone know the pattern? Any idea what the numbers on the plate (4, 955) mean? I assume the random numbers on the labels might be inventory numbers.

 

personally i wouldn't remove the labels either, and don't think there will be anything under there either

get the impression the info has been put there to document (notjust to sell)

and go along with those details

 

though decoration and shape is slightly different, i'm thinking about the same period/maker

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315168833684

 

Rare Antique Coalport Complete Tea Service, c1835

complete service; teapot design may help as well

 

One of my friends would say, "Beautimus" if he were still with us so, in his memory I say, "Let's have a cuppa!"

 

I think the 1835 date on the service is closest. It's certainly no later than 1845.

 

The numerals on the base would definitely indicate Coalport. I think John has nailed it though so point is moot.

 

Lovely cup and saucer. That tea pot is spectacular!

 

Lovely!

Apparently, Coalport (along with several other manufacturers) often used a fractional pattern numbering system. "[Their] fractional numbering, however, never has more than three figures below the line, is usually in gilt, and is often written at right angles to the foot rim." Other companies' fractional numbering was often in other colours and/or contained more digits. The fractional number 4/955 is the pattern, there likely is no other "name" for it.
BTW, the company name was actually "John Rose & Co" from its founding in 1785 until 1880. It was located in Coalport, Shropshire and in 1880 it became the Coalport China Company. Their ware was typically unmarked prior to 1820.
THIS seller with pieces in your pattern thinks 1870s and acknowledges it may be Coalport but admits the attribution is uncertain. The ring-shaped handles on the cups do make me think an earlier date than 1870s, however.
If you can get your hands on the books (possibly through your library?) Berthoud's A Compendium of British Cups or Messenger's Coalport, 1795-1926, you may find more info than is available on the internet. Unfortunately, I have neither book.
I would think that the "Ironbridge Antique Centre" could be trusted to correctly identify old china/porcelain from their own area (such as Coalport).

 

Make mine Darjeeling, but not in that cup. (I use a large two-cupper mug.)

 

I agree. I don't think the seller was trying to hide anything, but that s/he was documenting the fruits of his/her knowledge/research. Unfortunately, labels have no footnotes!!! I am so glad the labels are there. Otherwise, I would have had no idea what it was. (It was in the kitchen cupboard, not the china cabinet. I can only think that was an oversight in moving & unpacking.)

 

Thank you!

You nailed it!

 

Thank you very much! I appreciate expertise.

 

Thank you for all the information. I did not know about the fractional number patterns. I have wondered what the numbers on the verso were.

I immediately looked up your bibilography in World Cat. Messenger is in a library only about 40 miles away but Berthoud is further away. I will try to get them on ILL. I may learn more about my mother's other Coalport pieces as well.

 

Wow! I am overwhelmed. So many excellent responses! Thank you, everyone. Now how do I give "best answer" to multiple replies?

 

u can click on only one... I believe...

 

nobody's really bothered about best answers here , we care that people are giving good answers

 

Sorry that should have been attributed to Tallcakes

 

one of those threads where everything goes right

 

I wonder if everyone else was as drunk as me.