ITEM HISTORY
Those who like to browse the extensive collection of my wife's chinaware may say "OMG!" as there are a lot of beautiful pieces to behold and gaze at!
The secret is this ... my wife collects MOST of her chinaware for personal satisfaction but some pieces were used on a "hire or rental" basis as prop's for the advertising and entertainment industry. A "side-line" if you like and even to this day she has close contact with drama production companies supplying "special props" for their latest production although she is "winding down" these activities and now she wants to focus on her own personal interests in very old hand crafted china and porcelain from the 19th Century.
This is one of those "prop" items, I am told it has been "on outings" many times in past and could well be seen in film or television dramas, usually "period dramas"
For this reason (being out of the house), some of these items have distinct flaws - particularly crazing (cracking of the glazing) which is caused by environment temperature changes (hot day - cold night)
It is very important to read the description of this item, any flaws will be truthfully and sincerely declared!
JOHNSON BROTHERS - Cake Serving Plate
Trade Name: Old English
Circa 1940's ~ 50's (backstamp clearly indicates this with the BY coding)
Flat cake serving plate
Cream White smooth china with "pie crust" rim
Traditional "par for the course" flowers (roses, daisies, primroses with foliage) and extensive Gold gilding is used in the decoration (great when viewed through a production camera lens!)
Opaque, meaning that if it is held to the light you cannot see shadows of your hand through the material
Hand decorated, both the painted artwork and the gilding
DIMENSIONS:
272mm (10.5") diameter
BACKSTAMP DETAILS:
This backstamp can be clearly identified as leaving the works in the period 1945 ~ 1952 due to the required addition (by the English Government under the WWII Concentration Scheme) of the large capitalised letters BY
Here is a photograph of the backstamp from this cake serving plate
Note that to the outside of the main backstamp are the artist and gilder's marks, you can see these in the larger photograph of the underside of this plate.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Just because this plate has been in a "production environment" doesn't mean it is any less attractive and it has NOT been damaged through handling, in fact the production houses tend to look after these very well otherwise they don't get their deposit back!
USED
CLEAN
Very Good overall visual condition (but not perfect)
NO cracks
NO discolouration to the Cream/White base or the decorative artworks
LIGHT crazing can be viewed when held to the light, but this crazing is extremely light and no ingress of bacteria has occurred (which causes discolouration in the glaze cracks).
For all intent and purposes, a very nice finish remains to this plate
Gold gilding (heavily applied) is in great condition and sensibly, Johnson Brothers have not applied an outer rim Gold decoration - this is always where the plate is handled the most and so the rim is the most likely area for wear.
This plate is now retiring from the "film industry", on more being lit up on stage and it has come 'back down to earth' and eagerly awaits the opportunity to live the remainder of it's days in a nice quiet home that appreciates such lovely old tablewares from an era long past.
