Wednesday, May 21, 2014

A Little Nod to England

The roses that I brought home last Thursday from the Roses and Royalty Miss America Tea are still beautiful.

Yesterday was Victoria Day... the red rose is the national flower of England... tea is the country's most popular beverage... and Royal Albert has been making exquisite bone china since 1895, so I decided to take a picture commemorating all four!


Albert Works [a pottery in Longton, Stoke on Trent, England] took their name in 1895 in honor of the birth of Prince Albert, who became King George VI in 1936.  Their brand name was Albert Crown China, and they earned a Royal Warrant in 1904.  In 1905 they began stamping their pieces Royal Albert Crown China, and eventually just Royal Albert.


Old Country Roses is Royal Albert's most popular pattern, and I couldn't help wondering how many of their patterns include roses.  The answer wasn't readily available in a Google search.

Someday I'll count how many Royal Albert teacups I have.  The two pictured here both have roses on them and each are a part of a series.  The pink teacup is called "Lyric" and is part of the Festival Series.  It was released in the 1970's-80's and there are six teacups in the series. The shape of the cup Gainsborough.

The blue teacup was released by Royal Albert as an un-named pattern in the 1970's as part of the Symphony Series. It comes in six different colors - blue, green, pink, purple, turquoise, and yellow.  The cup's shape is also Gainsborough.  The pattern was first released by Shelley China in the 1940's-50's, and was called "Rose Spray."

Do you collect Royal Albert china?

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Today I'm linking to:  Martha's Favorites and Artful Affirmations for Teacup Tuesday
 Bernideen's Tea Time Blog for Tea in the Garden
and Rose Chintz Cottage for Victorian Tea


8 comments:

  1. I sometimes think Americans consider our Victoria Day holiday more than we do. Interesting information and although I have several RA teacups, I don't collect them.

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  2. There are so many Royal Albert patterns. I see ones I have never seen before all the time!

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  3. I can't say that I collect RA china but I certainly admire it! I have an "Old Country Roses" teacup and saucer, and a Christmas OCR teacup & saucer, and I was quite tempted this past weekend when I was at the Royal Doulton outlet store, to add another and make it a "collection" (of three) but so far, I have not done so. If I had space and funds, I'd certainly have a collection of Royal Albert teacups!

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  4. Would love to have you come link to my Tea In The Garden Blog Party!

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  5. I have maybe eight or so Royal Albert teacups, and I consider them "classics" of the teacup world. I LOVE what you did with the photos here. All I could think was, "Pretty as a picture!"

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  6. Very lovely still life photo!

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  7. I love Royal Albert. How could one not??? These cups are wonderful. The first one looks very much like one of mine. I will have to check the series. Mine is yellow flowers and has a very similar shape and handle.
    OCR really is a tried and true pattern. You see it in all shaped and sizes. I have a few pieces myself and a "classic series" tea pot.
    I enjoyed your post.
    Hugs,
    Terri

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  8. Hello Phyllis,
    You have shared a lovely post in honour of Victoria Day. My tea this week is about Victoria Day too as we here in Canada celebrate it. I was going to share the history of Royal Albert too but it would have made my post too long. Glad you did. I have shared all of my RA teacups and now I know how many I have. Why not share your post with Tea Time? Would love to have you! Have a beautiful day.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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