Vintage Tuscan Happy Anniversary Teacup Saucer – Gold Script Inside Cup, Gilt Lace Border, Hand Painted Flowers, Bone China England 1950s

A Tuscan bone china teacup and saucer, heavily gilded, with a low round bowl on a tall gilded foot and an open scrolled handle. The anniversary greeting is written in gold inside the bowl, where it stays hidden until somebody lifts the cup to drink. It is a generous size as well — the saucer a full 5¾ inches and the bowl wide to match — so it holds a proper cup of tea rather than the two mouthfuls a good deal of vintage china allows.

That placement was a neat piece of commercial thinking. A pottery could keep one shape and one gilt pattern in stock, add a line of script at the last moment, and send the same cup out as a birthday, a golden wedding or an anniversary — and with the greeting inside, it stayed a proper teacup rather than a souvenir. Which is why these sit far more happily on a table than most commemorative china.

The gold is the expensive part, and it was not simply printed on: the trellis was laid down first and then gone over by hand, which is why the mesh stays crisp where a transfer alone would blur. The small flowers dropped into the gaps are enamel, painted over the glaze one at a time, and even the pattern number under the saucer was written in gold by hand — about as close to a signature as production china comes.

Tuscan was the trade name of R. H. & S. L. Plant of Longton, whose winged crown went on their china from the 1920s until Wedgwood absorbed the firm in 1966. Nothing has carried that name since.

Heavy gilding of this kind is the first thing to wear away, so a matched cup and saucer that have kept theirs intact are worth taking when they turn up. Lovely for an anniversary, and lovely in a cabinet that could use a little more gold.