Finally today I was able to unpack the Royal Doulton tea and coffee set and put it into the china cabinet my parents are “giving” me. It certainly is beautiful with the cutest coffee cups and saucers, together with coffee pot, creamer and sugar bowl. I think I actually have some sugar tongs somewhere that would be perfect to use with the bowl you can see on the bottom shelf. On the top shelf are the tea cups and saucers with a milk jug and another sugar bowl. I checked the doulton mark on the various pieces and it seems to be circa 1932 – going by some quick research on the internet.
Sadly there is one thing missing and that is the gorgeous teapot. After a disastrous encounter with my cat it now looks like this:
It is devastatingly in pieces (although my father believes he can superglue it back together for display purposes only. We shall see!). I now have an important mission in life and that is to track down a replacement. A short google search took me to the ABC ‘s Collectors website where it was noted that such teapots in good condition are rare and can be “pricey”.
Hurrah!
Oh, what a shame! But, you know, it doesn’t look that bad, really, The lid is intact, and it only seems to be in about five pieces. It wouldn’t surprise me if your father could glue it back together.
Or somewhere like David Jones, somewhere that sells high-quality china, might be able to recommend a repairer. That can be pricey, though: I priced a museum-quality repairer once for a ceramic TV lamp (bought from Ebay and apparently trodden on in transit: it was a panther, and the tail was ground to powder in parts) and that was far too much to consider.
But, as I say, this actually looks reparable. All big pieces and no powder.
He is very clever with the superglue. I don’t know that it would now be useable but it completes the setting until one day when I might be lucky enough to find an unbroken one. Like Bette Midler it chooses to be photographed from it’s best side. So you can’t actually see the bits that remain chipped…very lucky indeed.
“trodden on in transit”…it can’t have been packed very securely??!
No, it wasn’t packed securely, at all. There was also the issue of us paying for insurance and then the woman dropping off the face of the earth. Nasty situation all round, though I’ve only ever had excellent results with ebay otherwise.
It’s handy having a dad who’s clever with superglue. It looks excellent. And you could easily buy a plain white, black, or pale purple one that would complement the rest of the set, against the day when you do find a replacement.
I love those gorgeous square plates, too. Those are funky.
they are funky…1932 funky according to the doulton mark…everything old becomes new again eventually!