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Spode and Audubon Birds
Dessert plate, bone china (detail) Audubon's Birds featuring Morton's FinchSpode's Audubon Birds pattern is a design from the 1940s but has its roots firmly in the style of Spode's showpiece dessert...
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Spode Pattern 329 & a bit about Pattern Numbers
Coffee cup, Bute shape pattern number 329 c1803This beautiful early 19th century coffee cup is made from Spode's very white bone china. It is handpainted and gilded, all of which was done by hand. It...
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Spode, Christmas Tree and New Information
As Spode's iconic 20th Century pattern, Christmas Tree, is one of the most commercially successful patterns ever produced by the company I always try to write something about it at this time of year.I...
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Spode and a Victorian Christmas Pattern
Copeland, small plate, Christmas design, pattern number D5208 (detail of top border) c1868Earlier in this festive season I posted new information about Spode's famous 20th Century designChristmas Tree....
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Spode and a Mystery Teapot Stand
Teapot stand, bone china, pattern 522 c1804This pretty oval 'dish' is in fact a teapot stand. It is 8 inches long. I found it some time ago on a bric-a-brac stall at the regular Saturday antique market...
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Spode and a Coffee Cup & Saucer
Spode coffee cup, earthenware, London shape Cracked Ice and Prunus c1821Cracked Ice and Prunus is the name of a pattern produced by Spode in the early 1800s. It was derived from an 18th century Chinese...
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Spode's pattern 2789
Dessert plates, bone china, pattern 2789 c1819Knowing my interest in botanical subjects on early 19th century Spode wares, a correspondent kindly told me about two square dessert plates which were up...
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Parian: 'The Bride' and 'The Mother'
Parian bust of 'The Bride' 1861In the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge there is this wonderful photograph of a Copeland parian bust, 'The Bride', from their collection.It is a stunning piece of ceramic...
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Spode and London
Trade Card, 1825Â British Museum, Department of Prints & DrawingsRecently I was delighted to hear from Judy Rudoe of the British Museum who kindly let me know about a Spode trade card in the...
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Spode and Sunflower and Convolvulus
Sunflower pattern c1813 (detail)Spode's Sunflower pattern is my favourite of all the Spode transfer printed designs. It is a gorgeous pattern of intertwining flowers and foliage. At first glance it...
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Spode and Potters Poppies
Plate, bone china, Potters Poppies, Art Deco design, made 1960-1970I bought this plate in the lovely market town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England in June 2017. The town is famous for its antique shops...
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Spode Patterns in the Very Early 1800s
Saucer, pattern 312 c1803I rather like Spode designs from the very early 1800s. So here is a look at a few of them produced on the then new bone china. By 1804 around 600 patterns had been recorded in...
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Spode and Bang Up Pattern... or the pattern with a funny name
Soup plate, stone china, 'Bang Up' pattern 2886 c1820 (Lovers of Blue & White)Here's an oriental pattern from Spode with an odd name. Sometimes it is easy to find a reason for a pattern name, or at...
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Spode and Marketing Christmas in the USA
Leaflet, front, 'Christmas Tree' pattern for the USA 1990sSpode's famous and iconic pattern 'Christmas Tree' was first produced in 1938. In the USA it was an instant success and was very important...
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Spode and a Cress Dish
Cress dish & stand, c1805This Spode item is very specific. It is a footed cress dish and stand. This would have been used to serve watercress in the early 1800s.Made in a fine earthenware body...
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Spode and a Spring Crocus
Dessert plate, earthenware, Spring Crocus, c1815Backstamps on dessert plateThis is a Spode dessert plate from about c1815. It is decorated with a Spring Crocus from 'Curtis's Botanical Magazine'Â of...
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Spode and Bottle Ovens
Working at Gladstone Pottery Museum in the late 1970s, I found myself part of the organising team for a huge and important event - the final firing of a potters bottle oven.*As a young curator it was...
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New Book: 'Bottle Ovens and the Story of the Final Firing'
Our new book is out!Front coverPublished by, and available from, Gladstone Pottery Museum; researched and written by Terry Woolliscroft and Pam Woolliscroft.Images from the bookCan't help it, very...
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Spode and Pattern 2600
This dessert plate, made in bone china, is decorated in pattern number 2600. It dates from about 1817. Decorated with pink roses and sepia leaves, it is all hand painted with no further decoration. It...
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Spode & Christmas 2018
It's that time of year again... and as an added bonus (!) 2018 sees the 80th birthday of Spode's iconic pattern: 'Christmas Tree' introduced in 1938.Cup & saucer, Christmas Tree patternNot only was...
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