Set of 6 Matching English Ridley Flow Blue Plates, "Albany" Pattern

Antiques : Pottery & Porcelain

 

I have a kitchen/keeping room filled with this wonderful old flow blue, and I just never get tired of looking at it all. 'Flow blue', for those not yet smitten by it or knowledgeable about it, is a rather generic term for these beautiful old English plates, and owes it's nomer, literally, to the type of melting and diffusing cobalt glaze developed in the Victorian era, roughly 1837 to 1901 being the dates of the primary popular production of this beautiful method of transferware ceramics. Actually, the first produced flowing blue transferware was developed in 1925, but it took another 10 years before it was widely used. So popular in Victorian homes, (and we can see why) there were over 1500 patterns of it eventually produced. Most of us are thrilled to find a set of 6 or 8 or more of the same plate, but the real beauty of these pieces is that they're even more splendid when they're mixed together, since all have the central coordinating color and style lovingly known simply as 'Flow Blue'. So, it is with some trepedation, but also pleasure, I begin to sell my own collection of 'extra' flow blue pieces - those not in display and not in use for a very long time at my house. Here is a set of 6 Charming 6" (nearly) dessert or bread plates in the Wm. Ridley & Company (England) pattern called 'Albany'. There is a smallish nip on one plate rim more easily felt than seen sine it blends into the dragooned pearl-like trim around the perimieter. Photos aren't blurry - the blue glaze is. It's supposed to be that way. Impressed marks on all, just a number, and signet signed by the artist, too. GREAT set!

Item ID: 405fbalbany6