It’s funny how the world works sometimes. My partner has been friends with a chap for many years who is a confirmed old bachelor from a good family: but with no children, he is the last of this distinguished family line. With only a distant cousin and even more distant godson for family, my partner’s friend asked my partner to be the executer of his will. When he visited us to ask this of my partner, our friend and I chatted as we usually do about antiques and art, in particular Art Deco, which is a shared love of ours. I showed him some rather lovely Shelley Art Deco trios I had acquired recently. He then said that this was the perfect segway to something he wanted to ask me. He wanted to know whether I would be interested in having his parents’ Shelley Art Deco tea set (a wedding gift when they married in 1933) as part of the terms of his will. He wanted it to go to a person who would love it and cherish it. I was so flattered to be asked. Thus, when my partner and I visited him a week later at his house, our friend had washed and put out the set for me to look over to confirm whether I wanted it. It was a gorgeous Deco design of hand painted stripes in white, grey and that wonderful bright green we associate with the Art Deco era. Consisting of six cups, saucers and cake plates, a milk jug, sugar bowl and larger cake plate, the set was in perfect condition, gleaming and bright as the day it was gifted originally. I said I would love it! Then he told me that I may a well enjoy my inheritance now, and he gave me the set to bring home that very evening!
This is a teacup and saucer from that set. The pieces are made of the finest and most delicate bone china: so fine you can clearly see the shadow of your hand behind it when you hold it to the light. Shelley were famous for the delicacy of their porcelain, and it is why pieces are so prized by collectors, because they are so easily broken, even if one is gentle with them. The distinctive shape of the cup with its circular handle is registered as shape number 781613 which is classified as a Regency shape which applied to cups, coffee pots and milk jugs and was registered in 1933 – the year our friend’s parents were married. Each piece from the set has a hand painted “W 1233” on the bottom in red paint, which identifies the pattern number and possibly the pattern designer, but to date I can find nothing about it, and I have never seen a pattern quite like this. Thus, the set is keeping some of its origins a secret. Maybe one day I will find out more. Each piece has been entirely hand painted, which is most unusual even for a brand like Shelley, and even though it is nearing its centenary year, this cup and saucer look contemporary enough to slip into a fashionable modern interior of today.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 19th of July is "cup & saucer", and whilst I have many lovely cups and saucers in my collections of china, I felt that these rater special pieces deserved a showing for this week’s theme. I hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile.
