ca 1940 Mason's Vista X-large jumbo red transferware breakfast tea cup saucer

Description: This listing is for 3 tea cups and saucers sold INDIVIDUALLY, made by Mason’s England ca 1940, in the famous Vista pattern. RIGHT NOW, WHILE I’M WRITING THIS LISTING, I DON’T EVEN SEE ANYWHERE THE POSSIBILITY TO CREATE OPTIONS / VARIATIONS, SO PLEASE, BE INFORMED THAT THIS LISTING IS FOR 3 CUPS AND SAUCERS SOLD INDIVIDUALLY, ONE IS $89, THE TWO OTHER ONES ARE $79 EACH.OBVIOUSLY YOU WILL HAVE TO CONTACT ME BEFOREHAND SO THAT I CREATE A CUSTOMIZED LISTING FOR YOU DEPENDING ON WHETHER YOU WANT 1, 2 OR THE 3 CUPS & SAUCERS. Mason's is a renowned English pottery company with a long history of producing high-quality china and ceramics. The company, originally known as "Mason's Ironstone," was founded by Miles Mason in 1813. Mason was a Staffordshire pottery merchant, and he played a pivotal role in the development and popularization of ironstone china, a type of ceramic known for its durability and affordability. Many Mason’s china patterns are well collected and retain their characteristic rich colors. The Vista pattern hardly needs to be presented, being one of the most successful patterns developed by Mason’s. This pattern was first produced in brown and blue in the 1890s, followed by pink and a short run of green. The pink transferware was the most popular and made (in England) until about the year 2000. This pattern consists mainly of figures dressed in ca 1850 European fashion, strolling in a vast romantic park with stone balustrades and urns, and what looks like a palace straight from India or "Arabian Nights" in the background. My first feeling was that this imagery was the pure produce of the designer's imagination, but thinking about it, it could be a scene from real life: tourists or locals walking through the park of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, a (large) folly in an Indo-Islamic style, completed in 1823. Here we have the quite rare jumbo oversized X-large format that qualifies these tea cups for the “breakfast cup” designation (they have the capacity of almost 2 cups—-as in 16 fluid ounces). These jumbo cups, also called “joke cups”, are recognizable for their pear shape and smooth handle and rim—and for their unusually large size, obviously. They are difficult to find these days (try to find one online!), which makes them more sought after and valuable. I have three of them. For one, the pinkish red is particularly vivid, hence a slightly higher price ($89). For the two other ones, the raspberry red slightly leans on cranberry red! :-D If you can’t find the difference in the final picture (showing 2 sets + a Johnson Bros. teapot and a bouquet of roses), that means it is really subtle. The two "cranberry" ones are $79 each. Each jumbo cup comes with a saucer of appropriate size in the same pattern. To be honest, I’m not sure that these saucers were initially meant to go with these cups, as the rim of each saucer is gadrooned, while the cups’ rims are smooth. These items come from a neighbor of mine, who got them from her grand-father’s farm in New Jersey (which is consistent with the 1940 / 1950 date I came up with earlier), where they had a large collection of red transferware of various patterns and makers. I think the likeliest scenario is that they paired the cups with bread and butter plates from the same Mason’s Vista set, and in time forgot about that arrangement, which would make perfect sense because they really go perfectly well together, and definitely look like original sets: it took me quite a long time before I could detect this subtle variation between the cups and saucers’ respective rims. Dimensions: cups: diameter at the rim: 4” ½saucers, diameter: 6”½ Very good vintage condition, slight crazing. {{{ Please make sure you read the following carefully: INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING: shipping costs mentioned for this item are valid for DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY (from Boston, Massachusetts, to anywhere else in the United States).If you are located outside of the United States (even in Canada), please message me to discuss shipping details PRIOR TO MAKING YOUR PURCHASE.}}}

Price: 89 USD

Location: Somerville, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-09-02T04:48:38.000Z

Shipping Cost: 12 USD