Several of you have asked about the talk I gave last Saturday to the group of American collectors who came to the UK on tour with Seaway China.
Thus, I have decided to begin to share a few items I took along from my own collection. Here is part 1 – early Lambeth items.

So, I started at Lambeth as a logical starting point focussing on their practical beginnings but then moving on to the Doulton Lambeth art wares and the first artists. George Tinworth was up first in the artists section and I took along two early brochures produced about the great man and his art for everyone to see. The earliest is dated 1887 and it is interesting to see how Doulton really pushed his fame even in these early times. The other is a catalogue of terracotta plaques from 1906.
Next came the Hannah Barlow picture of a cat. Her importance as the first female artist and her technique were discussed, together with the picture itself! Then the small advertising jug – this is actually for Doulton themselves but it makes the point that Doulton ware was a popular medium for promoting all types of businesses. I took along a selection of glass slides and also some blown up copies of the same to illustrate Doulton’s importance in London and also to illustrate it’s former magnificence. Lastly is the unusual squash bowl from 1937 made as a wedding bowl but also to commemorate the opening of the Headquarters of the London Fire Brigade in Lambeth on the same day.
The bowl has humorous scenes relating to the fire brigade around it as you can see below.