Crown Ducal shapes 146 & 211

These two shapes have been chosen for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they appear together in an advertisement from 1936. Admittedly they look rather distorted being created from a sketch rather than a photograph. Nevertheless it is nice to see a period illustration of Charlotte’s work apart from the trade journal entries and also gives an insight into when a particular pattern was popular in the shops. Secondly, and more interestingly, the moulds for these shapes were clearly modified at some time while Charlotte was using them for her tube-lined designs and hence offer useful information about when a particular item was manufactured.

Newspaper advertisement for pattern 3274 Stitch

The illustrated advertisement for Stitch includes stylised pictures of shapes 211 and 146 (or 145). It appeared in the West Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail on December 17th 1936 as part of an illustrated Christmas gifts advertisement for the Binns department store in Hartlepool.

Shape 146

 

Crown Ducal shape 146

With the exception of 12” and 14” wall chargers, the shape 146 vase is Crown Ducal’s most popular shape for fancies. It has been seen with most of Charlotte’s designs from 2681 through to 6353. The few not seen yet, such as 4538, 4922, 4925 and 4957 are probably just because they are rare patterns anyway, but there is no reason to doubt that examples might have been made and perhaps a rare survivor will turn up in the future. The exceptions are the well known Coronation patterns 4724 and 4725 which are probably the two decorations unlikely to be found on this shape. Shape 146 was not among the very restricted number of flower vases and jugs that were used for Coronation Ware. 

Vases can be found with or without a handle, with about 12% not having handles. Virtually all examples without handles were made pre-1936, but as ever with Crown Ducal production there will be exceptions to the rule.

Left, incised shape number on early examples, right, moulded number on later examples

The shape number 146 can either appear as scratched/incised numerals into the pot with a pointed tool or as raised numerals in a rectangular moulded recess. There is a clear cut division where the incised version ceased to be used and from then on the moulded version takes over. Most Hydrangea 3797 examples have incised shape numbers. Most Patch 4015, Blue Peony 4016 and Persian Rose 4040 examples have moulded shape numbers, but 4016 and 4040 have been seen with incised numbers. The date when the mould design changed must have been sometime quite early in the production period of these two patterns and also well into period 2 because of the number of shape146 items with AGR2 backstamp styles. Previously I have estimated that the period 1–2 boundary would be at the start of 1935. If this still holds good then perhaps late spring/early summer 1935 is a good estimate for the changeover. This time would also satisfy the observation that all Tudor Rose and Manchu examples have the moulded shape number version.

If you are checking your vase and it does not have the moulded shape impression, but you cannot find the incised number - then this is not unusual. Some of the glazes, when applied very thickly can fill in the incised mark. Also, there was a habit in the earlier years for the decorators to tube-line the shape number on the base and sometimes this may have been over the top of the incised mark.

Shape 211

 

Crown Ducal shape 211

The vase shape 211 was one of the “new shapes” introduced in 1936. It becomes a popular shape with Tudor Rose 4491, Manchu 4511 and many of the later patterns. It can be found with older designs, but not in large numbers as they would have been made at the tail end of these pattern production runs, or perhaps as special orders after main production run had ceased. Looking at patterns older than 4491, then examples of 4318, 4300, 4298, 4088, 4016, 4015 and 3274 have been seen in roughly diminishing numbers, except for a little spike with the ever popular Stitch 3274. One example has been seen with the Byzantine/Danube 2801 pattern, but I believe that may be a later production. No examples of the popular patterns Byzantine 2681, Rhodian 3274 or the less common early designs have been recorded so far on the 211 shape which is an observation common to most of the younger shapes. This may impact on collecting strategies, (should they exist!), as it means that it will be most unlikely that anyone will ever find a Lotus Leaves 2682, Turin 2691 or Aztec 2800 pattern vase with shape 211. 

The shape can be found with no handles, one set of handles or two sets, very roughly in the proportions of 2:1:7. The examples with one set of handles are the rarest and seem to occur only on the earliest productions of the shape, (4016, 4318, 4491, 4511 and 4521). Most, if not all of these were made in 1936. The majority of vases with no handles follow the same rules, but there are also quite a few exceptions, so it may be possible to find handleless examples on any design that was also made with two handles – but they are just less common.

Left, early examples have the dot after 211, right, the dot is missing on later examples.

On the base of each vase is a rectangular moulded recess with the shape number 211. Eagle eyed observers may have noticed that sometimes the number is followed by a full stop and sometimes the stop is absent. The first instinct is to assume that this could be used to date mark a vase. Presumably a mould for shape 211 vases was broken and its replacement had the shape number made slightly differently.

A study of many observations of pattern number, backstamp style and shape number impression style does indeed show an age relationship. Examples of Caliph 5411 made in period 2, (AGR2 backstamp style), have the full stop after the shape number 211. Examples of Tarragona 5623 made in period 2 do not have the full stop. The approximate design date for Caliph is late summer 1937 and for Tarragona is early summer 1938. So it seems likely that sometime between these two dates the mould(s) for shape 211 were remade with a very slight design change. Late spring or early summer 1938 would be a good estimate for the change.

The Byzantine/Danube 2801 vase mentioned earlier does not have the dot in the shape impression and adds weight to the idea that this item was probably a special order made outwith the main production period of 1933-1935 for this design.