HISTORY:
This is part of our Crown Trent trio (other items from this set are advertised HERE and HERE) which dates from the mid 1980's
It is a little difficult digging up information about Crown Trent and the following unverified information was eventually gleaned from online sources.
It seems that Crown Trent is a sister trade name to Buttercup China and both of these names are now owned by a company called Ransat.
Apparently the Crown Trent name started being used towards the end of the 1970's and was originally part of Ashley Fine Bone China. Their original works was located on Millrise Road, Hanley and some time later they moved to Sutherland Road, Longton. It seems that the company experienced some difficulties in the early 2000's and went into administration, The rights were then purchased by the Ransat Group (a trading entity which seems to originate in India) and production once again moved, this time to Spring Garden Road, Longton. Apparently Crown Trent (and Buttercup) products are still being produced to this day.
Dating of the Crown Trent is extremely difficult as they used the same backstamp from the 1980's until today but we do know these pieces were from the early 1980's based on when they were purchased (in UK) and bought back to us as a gift.
As our interest is now focused on much older and "arty" pieces which are hand painted china and porcelain, these Crown Trent items no longer have a place in our collection and need a new home
We are ONLY offering this trio as three separate pieces, this provides the maximum flexibility to those who may need just a teacup, saucer or the side plate
CROWN TRENT - Teacup ONLY
Fine Bone China
The china is translucent, meaning that if held to the light you can easily see the shadow of your hand through the china.
Bright White base with two graphic designs, one larger than the other and on opposing sides of the teacup. Heavy Gold gilding has been applied to both lightly scalloped top rim and also around the base and a "dash" down the back side of the handle.
The graphic work is clearly based on a central pale Blue flower which is surrounded by smaller Pink and Apricot flowers with foliage. It looks to us as though the design is from the imagination as the foliage is also mixed and just doesn't fit with real life (mix of leaf shapes and types, even some that look like Oak/Acorn leaves!) We tend to think this is a "fantasy" graphic but it is attractive none-the-less
Graphic work is definitely transferware, NOT hand painted and we feel the Gold gilding has also not been applied by hand, there are certainly no artist or gilder's marks underneath. In the 1980's it would not have been viable to decorate this "general use tea-ware" by hand.
DIMENSIONS:
89mm diameter mouth x 77mm height
Handle is a pretty standard shape and protrudes from the teacup body 30mm (plenty of room for a finger)
BACKSTAMP:
Not much to say about this, printed (under the glaze) in Black
(Crown graphic)
Fine Bone China (on an downwards turning arc)
CROWN
TRENT
Staffordshire
England
(on a upwards turning arc)
No other distinguishing marks
COSMETIC CONDITION:
CLEAN
Barely used, I think just once did we take these out for a fun afternoon tea!
NO cracks
NO crazing
NO chips or fleabites
NO discolouration at all, particularly inside the teacup (no tannin stains)
Graphic colours are "as original" without any degradation visible
Gold gilding is in very good/unworn condition
A very attractive Crown Trent teacup but not a lot of heritage behind it!
