BACKGROUND:
My wife "collects" but is changing which type of china/porcelain she wants (she is now focused on pre-1900's figurines & art china) and she has been hard at work "clearing out" her massive collection.
This "Breath Of Spring" trio was recently advertised as incomplete but my wife has now found the "missing piece" (the side plate) so this offering is for EITHER the complete trio of this pattern or you can just purchase individual items ... hint ... it is much lower cost to purchase the trio as automatic discounts are applied at the checkout for more than one piece purchased.
DLAT RATING: 9.9/10 (Darling Look At This!) Nothing is perfect but this tea or coffee set trio are close (except one, read below about the "Ugly Duckling"!
More elegant chinaware from Royal Albert
This advertisement is ONLY for the cup, saucer and side plate detailed below. The asking price is for one piece, if you purchase more pieces then an automatic discount is applied at the checkout i.e the more you purchase, each piece is cheaper for you (we want them ALL to leave home!)
ROYAL ALBERT - Cup, Saucer & Side Plate TRIO
Made In England
'Contemporary' Royal Albert ... around the 1980's
All items are of course fine Bone China
Being fine bone china, all of these pieces are translucent (you can easily see the shadow of your fingers through the china when held up to a strong light source)
The following information is specific to each piece being offered ...
Royal Albert
TEA OR COFFEE CUP
Series: For All Seasons
Pattern: Breath Of Spring
Transferware decoration
Background colour is clean, bright White
Design: Very pale, soft delicate Pink five petal flowers with foliage (similar to a Periwinkle), placed on opposing sides of the cup with one decoration being much more extensive than the other. Inside the mouth of the cup is a single flower with foliage.
Shape: Embossed sides in the shape of trees all around the outside of the cup, inside is the normal smooth china. Plain smooth top rim with no scalloping and an upturned handle but not as pronounced as a Queen Anne style handle.
Due to the straight sides, this cup looks to be intended for coffee's although of course tea drinking is perfectly fine with this cup.
Gold gilding finishing to the top rim, left side (only) and top of the handle and a single ring around the foot.
BACKSTAMP DETAILS:
DIMENSIONS:
Mouth: 80mm diameter
Height: 82mm
COSMETIC CONDITION:
CLEAN
NO cracks
NO chips
NO fleabites
NO crazing
NO discolouration observed to the White base china anywhere
NO damage or wear is apparent to the applied decorations.
NO observable wear to Gold gilding, this means around the rim, the entire handle and the ring around the foot.
SPECIAL NOTE: There is something odd about this cup ... I am leaning towards it having been a "2nd" although my wife says Royal Albert never put out their seconds to the retail market and she should know.
So what is odd about this cup Russ?
Looking from the handle side of cup, just to the left (on the side where some embossing has been placed) there is a tiny UPTURNED dot, like a pimple! It is quite easy to feel with a finger but not very visible. I have looked extremely closely at this "pimple" on the side and it is definitely upturning and not a chip or piece of food stuck to the side! No amount of clearasil will remove this pimple ... (joke joke), but I have tried to gently clean this area with soap and water, it made no difference at all.
Another "strange" thing I noticed when the cup is wet ... in the areas which have the special embossing it looks more shiny than the rest of cup! At first I thought someone had placed cellotape over the area but Oh No, it is definitely part of the original cup. It is as though the works double glazed this area of embossing. It is not crazing or anything like that but it does reflect light slightly differently. For me at least, another mystery of the world!
After all those comments, this remains a VERY presentable cup but with the above little bits of "strangeness"
Royal Albert
SAUCER
Series: For All Seasons
Pattern: Breath Of Spring
Transferware decoration
Background colour is clean, bright White
Design: Very pale, soft delicate Pink five petal flowers (similar to a Periwinkle) with foliage, placed around the rim area of the saucer with one decoration being much more extensive than the other.
Shape: Embossed sides in the shape of trees all around the inside rim of the saucer. Plain smooth top rim with no scalloping.
Gold gilding finishing to the top rim, outer edge only
BACKSTAMP DETAILS:
DIMENSIONS:
I would describe this as a saucer on "the larger side" and in fact it looks similar in size to a side plate but the central depression is a giveaway as to it's purpose.
156mm diameter
COSMETIC CONDITION:
CLEAN
NO cracks
NO chips
NO fleabites
NO crazing
NO discolouration observed to the White base china anywhere
NO damage or wear is apparent to the applied decorations.
NO observable wear to any of the Gold gilding around the rim
Due to the strange appearance in the embossed area of the cup, I looked for the same effect on this saucer - there is NONE! NO pimples, NO difference in the glazing sheen between the embossed areas and the rest of the saucer.
Royal Albert
SIDE PLATE
Series: For All Seasons
Pattern: Breath Of Spring
Transferware decoration
Background colour is clean, bright White
Design: Very pale, soft delicate Pink five petal flowers (similar to a Periwinkle) with foliage, placed around the rim area of the saucer with one decoration being much more extensive than the other.
Shape: Embossed sides in the shape of trees all around the inside rim of the saucer. Plain smooth top rim with no scalloping.
Gold gilding finishing to the top rim, outer edge only
BACKSTAMP DETAILS:
DIMENSIONS:
171mm diameter
COSMETIC CONDITION:
CLEAN
NO cracks
NO chips
NO fleabites
NO crazing
NO discolouration observed to the White base china anywhere
NO damage or wear is apparent to the applied decorations.
NO observable wear to any of the Gold gilding around the rim
Again I examined this plate extremely carefully for any peculiar effects to the embossing or little "pimples" but, unlike the cup, there are none.
