Vintage Crown Ducal "Charm" Tea Service for 8 (24 Pieces)
Pattern: Charm (Gainsborough Shape) | Origin: England, circa 1930s
This is a remarkably complete 24-piece tea service featuring the beloved "Charm" pattern. Unlike standard transferware, this set features hand-painted floral bouquets in vibrant pinks, yellows, and blues. The "Gainsborough" mold provides a beautiful texture with a scalloped, embossed ivory floral rim that gives the set a high-end, "Cottagecore" or English Countryside aesthetic.
Set Includes:
8 Tea Cups: 2.5" tall, 4" diameter
8 Saucers: 6 1/8" diameter
8 Luncheon/Bread Plates: (approx. 6-7" diameter)
Key Features & Details:
Hand-Painted Artistry: Note the slight 3D texture on the plates where additional paint was applied to the floral centers—a sign of genuine hand-decoration.
Authentic Backstamp: Features the "Type 203" Crown Ducal mark, dating this set to the 1930s. Some pieces also feature original blue and red hand-marked numbers under the glaze.
Embossed Details: The rim of each piece features raised ivory-colored flowers that catch the light beautifully.
Condition Report:
As is common with English pottery of this age, this set shows its vintage character:
Crazing: Visible fine crazing is present across most pieces, consistent with 90+ year-old glaze.
Noted Flaw: One cup has a hairline crack on the interior. This does not show through to the exterior and the cup remains sturdy for display.
General Wear: No obvious chips. Some pieces show small spots of darkening or kiln marks under the glaze from the original firing process.
Care: Hand wash only is recommended to preserve the hand-painted details.
Shipping Note: This is a heavy, fragile set (approx. 11 lbs packed). I take utmost care in packaging and will use professional-grade materials and double-boxing to ensure it arrives safely at your door.
The flowers on the both the plates have raised areas (see photos) and on the Crown Ducal "Charm" pottery, the raised parts refer to embossed floral elements and decorative details, particularly around the rim or forming a central ring on plates and bowls. This means these parts literally project outwards from the surface of the pottery, adding a three-dimensional effect to the design. These raised features are characteristic of the "Charm" pattern and are often found in conjunction with colorful hand-painted floral motifs and scalloped edges. The pottery has raised flowers that are ivory in color. Then the painted flowers on the plates look like they have added paint to make the flowers look raised in one or two places. There are no additions of raised paint on the teacups.
I did some research on the back stamp, as I know these are quite old as my moms mom gave them to her. It appears they are from the 1930's. Below is the backstamp information from an online resource that helps date Crown Ducal China by its backstamps. In addition many of the cups and plate have red and blue markings under the glaze. I have photographed these. I think they refer to the pattern as these kind are usually added to blanks before glazing and firing, which dates them to before there was perhaps an assembly line. |
| Type 203 |
The third style, (type 203), has similar text to the original but with the insertion of “Made in” to precede “England”. I believe this is a later version because the text font is closer to that used for the company's other backstamps of the 1930s and it is found particularly on later Gainsborough designs that were not introduced until much later in the 1930s. There is also a version in the same text style as type 203 but without the words "Made in", (ie similar to type 201 but less crisp text). This is type 204 and may possibly have been created to put on smaller shapes like the bottom of teas and coffee cups, or, was a precursor to type 203.