Whilst mooching around a car boot i found a broken plate in the bottom of a mixed box. It was broken in half and expertly pinned. It was filthy, i could make out gilding where I’d rubbed my thumb, an ornately decorated rim and a stylized tree as the main decoration. What really made me think this had some age and needed further investigation, was the fact that the underside was also decorated.
I paid my 50p and took it home. after some gentle cleaning (honestly, this poor plate was almost black with soot and dust), I discovered the Spode markings.
This was before i owned any books on pottery, let alone Spode. So all my research was on line, sometimes cobbling together bits and pieces from other people. The design is called “Tree of Life”, and was from the early part of the 19th century.
i was hooked!
Of course now i know a little more, Spode has many different back stamps, which is one way of dating items. There are pattern numbers and often the marks of the individuals who moulded it into shape (to ensure they were paid) in this case, an asterisk.
The Mark reads Spode 282, I can tell you i now know it was made c1802.
Yes this plate is worth a little more than 50p, but that is not the charm. Its the discovery, the research, the knowledge gained.
Its handling history.
Its looking at the paint strokes and wondering about the decorator, about who else owned it, who could afford at that time an expensively decorated plate. Who cherished it and valued it enough to have it pinned?
I like to think it has been rescued, and i hope will be cherished by others for another 200 years.
