Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Antique Staffordshire Teacup Trio, Jane Austen Bits

Hello and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Cuppa tea, for a last week in September. I love this photo from the Dallas Arboretum that decorated using 65,000 pumpkins and gourds...now THAT'S decorating....

My simple wreath, fabric pumpkins and a fall colors leaf garland seems a bit tame after that!  But on to Tuesday Cuppa Tea and my choice today. 

As you have probably noticed if you follow my blog and meme, I tend to choose by what I'm sharing and this is no different.

My post today references a lot of Jane Austen things, so I tried to find a cup and saucer that I had that Jane Austen might have used. I did find this teacup trio that dates to either the Regency period which was 1811-1820, or shortly after but definitely before 1839, when English china was required to have a British Registry mark...sort of a kite shape with coded number and letter information in the corners...relating to month, day, date and class of china.  This teacup trio has only a pattern number, which was quite usual for items of this date.

The requirement to mark English china with the maker's name didn't come in until 1891, and before that, most potters didn't.  These pieces are generally referred to as Antique Staffordshire unless you can figure out the maker by knowing shapes or patterns. This is very well made china. The set does have kiln dust...black specks...from the firing process, which is pretty normal for the older designs.  This design was transfer printed then hand colored. This teacup trio is available at Antiques And Teacups, just click on the photos for more info.

I also remembered this single cup I had that is actually from the Chawton area in England where Jane Austen lived, and dates to just before or during her lifetime. The material of this teacup trio is soft paste porcelain, different from later bone china and ironstone. It was considered the bone china of it's day because it could be pretty delicately molded and shaped and was a stunning advancement in china development.

You can see that this was made by a smaller pottery. The design is all hand painted and very simple. Can you see the difference in the foot ring above? Look at the one of the teacup above...this foot ring is slightly pinker which is because it is of a different material. This cup...I only found the cup, not the saucer, dates to 1800-1820. I love it!

According to the Jane Austen Center in Bath, England, this is thought to be an undocumented portrait of Jane Austen. To read why the owners think so, click the portrait to read the story from the Rice family. Lovely to think so!

I told you this is lots of bits about Jane Austen. The 200th anniversary of the publishing of her books started a few years ago with Pride and Prejudice and Sense And Sensibility last year, and Mansfield Part just recently. At the Jane Austen Society annual meeting in Bath, England on Sept. 13th, the Guinness Book Of Records mark was broken of the biggest group in period costume...550 to be exact. Here is the group gathered at the Pump Room, a place Jane Austen knew well...

Also of note in the Jane Austen history, one of only 3 items known to have been owned by Jane Austen was sold at auction in 2013 to American singer Kelly Clarkson for 152,450 pounds. But there was such an uproar, that the sale was frozen and the Jane Austen devotees given until last Dec. to raise the funds to keep it in the UK. Apparently the money was raised and the ring will remain in the UK at the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton, England. For the story of the purchase, click HERE.

Lastly, I have a related book review. There have been hundreds of Jane Austen novel spin offs, of varying success, over the years. But I got this one on Kindle recently Expectations by Frances Murray   which was really enjoyable. It was a pleasure to encounter familiar Pride And Prejudice characters in this novel dating to after Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage. The dialogue was deft, the characters extremely well done and I loved it. Mr. Collins is just as ...well...you know....and as for Lady Catherine, well"I knew how it would be..."

So that's it for this week's Tuesday Cuppa Tea! I  have the list of some of the blogs I am joining, and the linky for your tea related post. Remember, it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWW but does work. Please be patient! I love to hear from you! Have a wonderful tail end of September.

An InLinkz Link-up