Vintage Adderley Coronation Teacup And Saucer 1953 – Queen Elizabeth II Portrait, Royal Arms, EIIR Cypher, Fine Bone China England

An Adderley bone china teacup and saucer made for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. One side of the cup carries her portrait in a gilt cartouche, crowned, with the lion and unicorn either side and the rose, thistle, shamrock and leek below; the other side and the saucer centre carry the gilt EIIR cypher under a crown. Both rims are gilded.

Look closely at the face. The tones run continuously from cheek to shadow, with no engraved line and no brush behind them — the portrait was made from a photograph and printed. That is the technical line between this generation of commemoratives and the ones before: the 1911 and 1937 issues carry heads that were engraved or painted.

The arms, the lettering and the four national flowers came off the same transfer, laid in one piece and fired. The gold went on afterwards and separately — the cypher, the crown above it, the rims — which is why the gilding stands a little proud of the printed work when you catch it in the light.

It dates itself: Coronation June 2nd 1953 is printed across the cup. Underneath, both pieces are marked Adderley · Fine Bone China · England, so cup and saucer left the works together rather than being put together later. Commemoratives that carry their own date need no guesswork at all, which is not true of most china, and it is part of why collectors like them.

Adderleys of the Daisy Bank Pottery, Longton. Most 1953 ware was mugs and beakers ordered by councils and handed to schoolchildren by the thousand; a portrait cup and saucer was bought, not given, and there were fewer of them. As for the date on it — the second of June was picked on meteorological advice as the year's likeliest fine day. It rained, and the afternoon reached eleven degrees.