Figure of Minerva on pierced scroll base, outlined with turquoise and gilt, red anchor and dagger mark, 8-1/2 in. high. Puttick & Simpson, July 16, 1920 15 15 0 Pair of Figures of a boy and girl, wearing Eastern costumes, and with dog and lamb, on shaped bases, with three scroll feet, red anchor and dagger mark, 6 in. high. Puttick & Simpson, July 16, 1920 19 19 0 IV OLD WORCESTER [Illustration: EARLY BLUE AND WHITE WORCESTER PLATE. (Marked with crescent.) _In the Collection of the Author._] [Illustration: OLD WORCESTER SUGAR-BASIN AND CREAM JUGS. (Transfer-printed in black.)] IV OLD WORCESTER In old Worcester china there lies a magic that appeals to the collector of fine copies and adaptation from Nankin and other Chinese porcelain. The real old blue colouring of Worcester has a charm about it which cannot be reproduced nowadays. There is something personal about the productions of the old factories; the workman was proud to make his mark at the bottom of the plate or bowl he had created, much in the same manner as the masons who built Fountains Abbey left each man his mystic sign on each stone he carved. If the reader chooses to weave a romance of airy nothingness on an old cracked bowl of Worcester blue there is substance enough, if he has the mind to do so. Mr. Austin Dobson, in one of his charming villanelles, has taught us how much lies in the dreamy depths of a plate with queer Chinese blue figures on it:— “‘Ah, me! but it might have been! Was there ever so dismal a fate?’ Quoth the little blue mandarin. ‘Such a maid as was never seen? She passed, though I cried to her, “Wait.” Ah, me! but it might have been! ‘I cried, “O my Flower, my Queen, Be mine!” ’Twas precipitate,’ Quoth the little blue mandarin. ‘But then ... she was just sixteen, Long-eyed—as a lily straight— Ah, me! but it might have been! ‘As it was, from her palankeen, She laughed—“You’re a week too late!” Quoth the little blue mandarin. ‘That is why, in a mist of spleen, I mourn on this old blue plate. Ah, me! but it might have been!’ Quoth the little blue mandarin.” [Illustration: WORCESTER PLATE SCALE PATTERN. Fine painted Flowers in reserved panels. Having square mark.] [Illustration: WORCESTER TEAPOT. Powder blue ground with white reserves decorated in blue.]