Featured Tiny tea cups

Hello everyone,
We got these cups recently and were curious if anyone knows what they are. We mostly wonder so that we can see if there are more items in the set or with similar designs. Thank you for your time and help!

 

How small are they? 2”?

 

That British Design Registration number shown on the underside of the last one pictured was issued in 1900. I don't personally know how to connect the number to a company, but some others here probably know.

 

Hello @themusgrats & welcome to the forum!!!

The 2 on the right look like Morning Glory flowers. The other looks to have a Shamrock on the handle & the saucer is similarly shaped.

As @Bakersgma said above that number leads me to believe these are from England. Where did you find these sets?

@Ownedbybear - Can you help?

 

Ok, thank you for that information!

 

We got them an an estate sale in Memphis TN.

 

I searched the national archives and found this, does this seem right?
Registered 1880, July 30th.

Registered design number: 352980.

Proprietor: Samuel Spalding.

Address: 147 Drury Lane, London.

Subject: For watermarking paper.

Class 4: earthenware

 

That date and number do not coincide and this clearly isn't watermarking paper.

What national archives did you get that from?

 

The beginning of the British design numbering list (beginning with 1) was in 1884.

 

They're certainly British. Not shamrock, purple clover. The other is convolvolus. Both are wild flowers or even weeds which might be a useful search. They also look to be majolica.

 

Thanks for weighing in & giving the OP more accurate information.

@themusgrats - Just an FYI the date connected to the Rd number does not necessarily mean that they were made then. If I remember correctly it means that is when the number was issued & they could have been made at any point after that date.

 

Oh, ok. Which number are you referring to? I thought you guys were talking about the "RaNo" which then says 352980.

I looked here:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C13161518

Thank you again, this is fun and I'm learning lots from you all already.

 

Yes, they are 2 inches.

 

The numbers I was talking about as "not coinciding" are the date and number in post 7 versus the Design Registration number list for Rd No. 352980 - which falls in the range for numbers assigned in 1900 - and the fact that the number appears on a tea cup and not paper.

Prior to 1884, items that were produced under an approved design registration (patent) were identified with a specially shaped mark containing codes for that could be used to locate the paperwork used to submit the design for approval and determine the month in which the approval occurred. But that mark did not contain the assigned registration number. Beginning in 1884 the use of that complicated mark ceased and the Design Registration Number itself could be marked in the item by the maker. The number must be preceded by Rd or Rd No. followed by the assigned number. (Note I said "could" because it wasn't always.) The numbers started with number 1 in 1884 and the "List" I referred to is available in various references showing the only the first number assigned in each year. The one I check runs from 1884 to 1995.

 

Here's a very useful link to English design registration marks, both the pre-1884 mark and the 1884 and forward "list" of Registered Numbers.

http://www.thepotteries.org/mark/reg.htm

 

Thank you.

 

Excellent explanation, bakers!

One other thing. These would be called cabinet cups.

 

Thank you, Bear.

 

If you look through the National Archives, you can see there were many design numbers assigned before 1884. I see that the link shows this number for water marking paper, but it also says earthenware, so there's human error somewhere. Now, this Samuel Spalding is still a mystery.

 

Yes he is! I looked up the address and found other Spaldings noted as living at 147 drury lane. That's all I found.

I also wondered about an error in the design registration, since it was under class 4.