Lowestoft china, ten teacups and eight saucers decorated with border and sprays of flowers in crimson, red, blue, and green. Sotheby, May 17, 1920 5 0 0 VII COALPORT [Illustration: TWO-HANDLED CUP, RICHLY GILDED, WITH BLUE AND WHITE PANELS. COALBROOKDALE. MARKED CBD.] [Illustration: COVERED CUP AND SAUCER, OLD COALPORT. IN SÈVRES STYLE.] VII COALPORT The history of Coalport porcelain manufactured in Shropshire on the banks of the Severn is worth the telling, and those readers who are possessed of specimens of the older ware issuing from this factory will be glad to hear of its first beginnings. Unlike some of the other great manufactories, Coalport, we are happy to say, is still in existence. Bow and Chelsea, Nantgarw and Swansea, Bristol and Plymouth have disappeared. The potter’s wheel is silent, and the brush of the artist has been laid aside for ever. Long since the potters have turned into clay themselves. At Bow, where the exquisite ware was produced on the banks of the Lea (“New Canton,” as the manufactory styled itself), a match factory stands on the old foundation. Instead of delicate and fragile cupids they now make matches, but of the kind more associated with Lucifer than with Cupid. With Derby and with Worcester, Coalport can boast that it was established in the middle of the eighteenth century. Indeed, there is evidence that the Salopian china made in Colebrookdale is taken from the same beds of clay which fifteen hundred years ago supplied the Romans with material for their white ware, for their jugs, their mortaria, and their bowls, which are constantly being unearthed at various spots in the valley of the Severn. The site of the first works was at Caughley, where a small pottery was begun about 1754. Early in its history the names of Brown, Gallimore, and Turner occur. In my “Chat” on the great Worcester factory I showed that Dr. Wall was the leading spirit who infused life into the concern, and it would appear that Thomas Turner was in some measure induced to emulate him, and it is seen on comparison that the early examples of Caughley were very similar to those of contemporary Worcester. The patterns were principally confined to blue flowers and decorations on a white ground. From 1756 to 1776 the manufactory attained a great excellence. There exists a mug bearing the date 1776, and the name “Francis Benbow.” There is a nautical ring about the name. One recollects Admiral Benbow and his gallant deeds; our Francis Benbow was a bargeman, for whom the mug was made, but his name will go down to posterity on this Caughley mug, as it is the most perfect specimen of its kind.