Vintage Royal Albert Albany Blue Cake Plate – Cobalt Gold Floral Bone China, Handled Server, Gilt Rococo Scrolls, Made in England 1950s

A twin-handled cake plate in Royal Albert's Albany Blue — deep cobalt panels at the corners laid over with thick gold rococo scrollwork, and between them, on the white, hand-coloured bouquets: a red rose, a yellow tulip, blue cornflowers, a scatter of smaller sprays, with a full bunch at the centre inside a gilded scrolled ring. About ten inches across the handles, the serving plate at the heart of an Albany Blue tea service.

The flowers repay a close look. Each bouquet is printed first as a fine grey outline, then filled by hand — and the hand shows: the pink of the rose is laid in two passes, darker where the brush doubled back into the centre of the bloom, and on one of the smaller sprays the yellow has run a hair past its line into the white. The gold is a separate operation again, brushed on thickly enough to stand proud of the cobalt, then burnished to that warm, slightly uneven shine you only get from real gilding rubbed up by hand rather than a printed transfer. Along the top edge of one handle it has thinned to a paler line — where fingers went, every time.

Albany was made as a family of colourways, the same design over Blue, Green, Pink and Maroon grounds; collectors tend to pick one and build a set from it. The Blue is the boldest of the four.

One honest note: the glaze carries a fine allover crazing — the fine networking you get in old bone china with a thick coloured ground, surface only and not cracks. No chips, no losses, no repairs. Lovely for serving or on a stand.

For a Royal Albert or Albany collector, a cobalt-and-gold tea table, or anyone who likes a little drama with their cake.