I am pleased to offer a vintage Gray's Pottery Sailing Ships Sanderland purple lustre cup and saucer set. There is no pattern number on either the cup or saucer, so cannot tell when it was made but definitely was prior to 1961.

I think the ship is a transfer and the spatter is hand done using the Sunderland spatterware techinque of splashing turpentine or similar chemical on the bronze paint. The set is on lovely condition...


The outside of the cup is decorated in purple luster all around with one sailing ship on the side. The saucer also features a hand painted ship in the center with luster to match the cup around the edge. It is interesting that if the cup is placed 'just so' in the saucer, the combination of the two seem to show one ship.

---> Cup Only <---

---> Saucer Only <---

Gray's Pottery was established in 1912 at Stoke-On-Trent, moved to Handley, and moved back to Stoke and existed from 1934 until 1961 when it was bought by Portmeirion Potteries. Well known for their hand painted items, marked with a sailing ship backstamp, did not manufacture the basic pottery themselves. Blanks were purchased elsewhere and hand painted by Gray's decorators. Lustre wares were a specialty and often seen painted with silver resist, copper, and other lustre finishes.

Size	Cup - About 3-3/4" across, not including the handle, 2-1/4" high, and 1-3/4" across the bottom foot Saucer - 5-7/8" across
Paint/Glaze	There is no crazing at all on the cup and only two lines of crazing on the bottom of the saucer near the ID mark. The cup and saucer ship transfers are perfect with no missing paint or rubbed areas. On the cup handle there are a few tiny white areas, but when looking sideways in a bright light I do see copper lustre and/or glaze over the areas in question. The bronze glaze is nice and shiny overall on both pieces.
Ground	The area around the ship transfer is very white with the spatter color being pink to purple on the outside rim. The sides and back are deep purple with areas of white spatter. Inside the inside of the cup is white.
Chips/Cracks	None
Stains	None
Use Marks	On the back of the cup there are a few small (1/2" or so) very shallow and light scratches. They are hard to see but can be felt with a fingernail. The saucer has a few very, very tiny surface scratches that are hard to see because they blend in with the spatter. They are shallow, narrow and short.
Other Comments	An excellent example of a pre-Portmeirion A E Gray's Pottery collectible!

It is fully marked on the bottom with a black Clipper Ship ID Mark. It covers another green printed mark that I cannot read. There is no typical Gray's pattern number (ie., Annnn) present on either piece.

---> ID Mark <---

Please feel free to ask any questions as I am not an expert in A. E. Gray's Pottery.



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