Myott & Sons were one of the very old earthernware manufacturers in Staffordshire, most recogniseable for their wonderfully coloured pattern designs, particularly their Art Deco era, and later their figurine designs under the stewardship of Marcel Goldscheider.
This coffee pot does have "family", with the saucers and demitasse cups advertised separately HERE
This is a coffee pot, with the traditional tall narrow shape (although it does have a slight bulge but nothing like the squat look of a typical teapot) The spout pours from approximately halfway up the pot and inside, there are no holes on the inside of the spout to "filter" tea leaves.
Of note is the acknowledgement to the artist of the larger bird illustration, A. Roberts. We presume this person (a lady most likely) worked for Myott's but for the life of us we have never been able to find out who this person is and even today with the wealth of information online, there are no fresh clues as to who A. Roberts was.
MYOTT SON & CO
Manufactured at the Alexander Potteries located in Cobridge, Stoke-On-Trent
Royal Crown was a series they began in the 1930's
We estimate the year that this coffee pot left the works as being in the period 1930's ~ 1940's
Design: We do know that most people refer to this pattern as "Chelsea Bird" although, like the matching demitasse cups and saucers, we just called them "The Pheasants"
The pot lid has a small notch to help prevent it "falling out" and a breathing hole in the top.
Apparently the name "Chelsea Bird" is known to have been the name given to the drawing by A. Roberts so that just about any piece with that distinctive drawing is called the "Chelsea Bird" china - Myott & Son produced a complete dinner setting in this pattern.
Actually the featured birds are of a more generic depiction, the birds were actually copies of very colourful Chinese designs imported into England. The primary scenes are surrounded by extensive "geometric like" borders and all colouring is bright and vibrant, no pastels here!
Gold gilding has been applied extensively to the coffee pot, around the pot mouth, all over the lid handle, partially down both sides and the back of the handle and a double ring around the base.
BACKSTAMP:
Here is a photograph of this actual coffee pot base, not a copy/paste from someone else's item online (I have seen people do this!)
Perhaps not very clear is the text impressed into the clay ENGLAND MYOTT in addition to the printed backstamp
DIMENSIONS:
60mm diameter pot mouth
190mm height
60mm diameter body at the base which increases to 120mm diameter near the lid
100mm long pouring spout
110mm height handle (good for a man's hand as well as the lady of the house)
WEIGHT: 520g
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Please read this condition report carefully ... you are looking at earthenware which left the works almost 100 years ago and nothing but nothing is perfect after 100 years!
Besides the obvious flaws such as cracking or chips/fleabites, the primary areas that can be affected over time is the artwork colouring (or wear) and the glaze. The glaze in particular develops "cracks" due to changing environmental conditions and heat/cold. This cracking is most often referred to as crazing. Crazing can be of almost no consequence or much more serious, where the material under the glaze becomes discoloured.
CLEAN
NO cracks at all (pot or lid)
NO chips or fleabites (pot or lid)
NO past repairs made
NO stains (tannin or otherwise) inside the pot
NO apparent crazing at all, this is pretty amazing after all these years. We both wet and dry checked the coffee pot but could not observe any crazing lines/cracking.
Gold gilding is also in amazing condition, truly! I would have not been surprised to see at least a little handling wear, particularly on the handle of both the lid and the pot but there is none to be seen.
NO discolouration or damage observed to the decorative hand painted artwork or the border decorations.
BUT ... in observing the body of the coffee pot VERY closely, I can see what appear to be little dots or speckles and a couple of "smudge" marks - it is as though the clay or the glaze was a little dirty! Try as we might, nothing we tried (mainly just soapy water) to clean these marks or smudges would budge them - in fact we believe these blemishes are under the glaze.
