A Pattern With Many Makers Burgundy Rose

I don't know about you, but it's fun to find matching pieces in a pattern... and then surprising when you find out that although the pattern is the same, the maker is different.

This is a lovely pattern called Burgundy Rose that first came into my life through assing a line of new English bone chna and ceramics to our then bricks and mortar antiques and tea items shop in the latter part of the 1990s. The Southern California importer Herman Dodge, contracted with several of the smaller and newer Staffordshire potteries.

a photo I took of a bottle kiln in Staffordshire in the mid 1990s...

 These smaller potteries managed to make it through what I call the "second big slice and dice" in 1992, when many of the large and famous Staffordshire potteries either ceased to exist at all or merged and disappeared. Many of the bigger ones had already been gobbled up and retired in the late 1960s... like Shelley China.

Anyway, the removal of some of the larger potteries left skilled workers needing jobs, and a slice of public buyers resisting cheaply made and unhealthy far eastern ceramics, and hence formed small potteries.

One of these was Royal Patrician, who made extremely good bone china and ceramic items, and we stocked their wares.

And one of the popular patterns was called Burgundy Rose...

Royal Patrician closed in 2007 and Herman Dodge in 2009, so it's amazing we even have a piece left... but we do because it got packed in a wrong box and only unearthed a year or so ago...

You can see the Royal Patrician mark...

We had teapots, honey jars, tea strainers, plates, teacups and mugs in the pattern....

and a Burgundy Rose spoon rest... also only because it was mislaid in a move in 2002...

also with the Royal Patrician mark.

In 2004 though, Royal Patrician had some difficulties and some of the molds and decals were taken over by another small English pottery called Allyn Nelson...so...

Same Burgundy Rose decal...

But a different mark...

Also appearing and entering the scene around the same time is Crown Dorset and a few others... reviving a name that had been unused since 1937....

and using the same decals of Burgundy Rose...

there are at least 2 other potteries who used it as well..

Decals are usually made by a decal company who sell to potteries that don't have their own designers.

which explains why many of the smaller potteries have the same design...

and ever heard of copycatting? There are and always have been spies looking for a popular design to pirate or adapt more cheaply than the big potteries to compete for market share... it certainly still happens with clothing and designed accessories, doesn't it?

Some of the historic examples are what we call Blue Willow, Asiatic Pheasants and jasperware. On pottery had a designer that originated it, it was a hit, and suddenly many potteries were putting out their own versions and buying the decals the decal makers came up with.

So, unless you are just wanting to find pieces by pattern, and not by only a specific maker, it is easier to add to your set or collection...

And there are still pieces of Burgundy Rose out there...

but possible by another or related pottery.

It sure is fun looking, isn't it?

So, have a cup of tea, and rake a minute to enjoy the design... and if it's an English teacup, chances are it's from a closed pottery with the skills gone and lost...

THAT is sad!  In a generation, there will be few skilled potters and decorators alive in England... and so much will be lost.

On my soap box... think twice before you buy something from China ...the quality is not there, and it is putting another nail in the British ceramics industry.

Okay, off my soap box!

If you are interested in more info any of the above items at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.