Vintage Royal Albert Val D Or Mug – White Bone China with Heavy Gold Trim, Fluted Montrose Shape, Gilded Coffee Cup, Made in England 1960s

Royal Albert without a rose in sight. The firm built its name on flowers — Old Country Roses is among the best-selling bone china patterns ever made — so Val D'Or, which carries none at all, comes as a surprise from that quarter. The name means valley of gold, and gold is the whole of the decoration.

Everything is left to shape and gilding: vertical flutes running the length of a tall bowl down to a pedestal foot, a fine line of gold at the lip, a broad band around the foot, and the upper curve of the handle sheeted solid. It was made for the sort of table that wanted the weight and translucency of English bone china without a printed flower anywhere on it — the plainer, more formal taste that came in with the sixties.

The form has a name of its own, Montrose, which the factory dressed in a good many patterns over the years. That is the thing to know when matching pieces: the pattern is what goes on, the shape is what it goes on, and a cup bought on the pattern name alone can arrive in quite another silhouette.

Even the backstamp was made to match, printed in gold rather than the usual red or brown. Val D'Or ran from 1960 until 2009, long enough that a set can still be built up rather than hunted for.

Gold laid on this heavily is always the first thing to go — at the lip, at the handle, around the foot — and here all three are unworn. A generous mug for morning coffee that still looks dressed for the table, and an easy thing to give, with nothing to match and nothing to clash with.