🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Old tea cup and saucer from England

[w8cs]

I have an old tea cup and saucer that my grandmother got from her grandmother. There are minimal markings on the bottom. On the saucer is a label that indicates my great grandmother got it from a lady from England in 1880. It also indicates that it is 200 years old at that date so I'm assuming its from the 1600's. Thanks in advance for your help identifying this.

 

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[Red-Coat]

Welcome to Tnet.

My experience is that family history recollections of "heirlooms" is frequently unreliable. Your teacup and saucer for sure aren't porcelain or fine bone china. The appearance together with the glazing blemishes suggests it might be majolica-ware and could be English or continental.

it could well be early but I sincerely doubt as old as the 1600s. I would put it in the mid-late 1700s at the very earliest but without an attributable maker mark it could just as easily be somewhat later into the early 1800s.

 

[Emil W]

The shape is typical of European porcelain from the first half of the 19th century, probably English although French is a remote possibility. The paint decoration also fits this period.

If you hold it up to a bright light and you can see even a little light through it, it's porcelain. It looks like bone china (porcelain) from your photos, which is also appropriate for early to mid 19th century. (If no light can be seen through it, it's any number of other types of pottery such as majolica, stoneware, delft, etc.)

I've collected early European, English, Chinese, and Japanese porcelain for over 30 years.

 

[tamrock]

It does look old, but I wouldn't think as old as the 1600s, but I really can't say for sure. There are websites that have information about old china and porcelain. Last I tried to date something I thought was pretty old, you would focus on the shape and style of it, to possibly determine the age. Still these things can be produced in the styles of the 15th century for hundreds of years after that time, so it can get tricky to be absolutely positive on really how old it is.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

My first thought was early Delftware. The paint technique and the marks on the base remind me of Dutch porcelain. But, now I'm thinking possibly French?

 

[w8cs]

My first thought was early Delftware. The paint technique and the marks on the base remind me of Dutch porcelain. But, now I'm thinking possibly French?

I will investigate those. Thank you.

 

[w8cs]

Welcome to Tnet.

My experience is that family history recollections of "heirlooms" is frequently unreliable. Your teacup and saucer for sure aren't porcelain or fine bone china. The appearance together with the glazing blemishes suggests it might be majolica-ware and could be English or continental.

it could well be early but I sincerely doubt as old as the 1600s. I would put it in the mid-late 1700s at the very earliest but without an attributable maker mark it could just as easily be somewhat later into the early 1800s.

I’m not sure the pattern or the paint matches anything I’ve seen that is labeled majolica. My great grandmother came to the US in 1855 from Wales. I don’t know if she got it before she left or after she arrived.