Flow Blue China: An Aid to Identification by Petra Williams

Table of Contents

Trying to find out more about the wares and where they were made, and when, and what would be a fair value to pay for each item, I ran into a blank wall. Neither collectors nor dealers know much about these simple dishes.

Historical Staffordshire has been well documented in this country by Laidecker, Larson and Little. Old china has been magnificently outlined by Kamm. The great patterns of the world have been written about by English writers like Godden and Cushion, but no one heretofore has tackled Flow Blue.

Now, of course, a lot of Flow Blue is well over a century old and it is becoming rare. The attrition of constant use has taken its toll. It is difficult to acquire a service of the pattern of the 1860s and 1870s and almost impossible to acquire a service dating from 1840-1850 unless you are rich; then it's not easy. To judge by the doleful letters I have received, it is expensive to try to put together a complete set of the later Victorian periods.

Collecting is made more difficult by the confusing duplication of titles. I feel that if a collector can see the patterns in a book and learn how to identify marks, he or she can collect more easily, can combine patterns to form a set, and can buy, sell and trade with confidence. Therefore, this book of patterns.

(From Foreward)