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Wodonga & District Historical Society Inc
From the collection of Wodonga & District Historical Society Inc
1387 Items featured online

Domestic object - Small tea cup and Saucer

  • A small cup and saucer with image of a couple in a garden and red and gold design

    Tea cup and saucer set

  • Saucer showing 2 images of a couple in a garden and red and gold pattern

    Saucer

  • Back mark underneath saucer in red and gold

    Back mark underneath saucer

  • A small cup and saucer with image of a couple in a garden and red and gold design
  • Saucer showing 2 images of a couple in a garden and red and gold pattern
  • Back mark underneath saucer in red and gold

Historical information

This item is from a collection donated by descendants of John Francis Turner of Wodonga. Mr. Turner was born on 6 June 1885. He completed all of his schooling at Scotts Boarding School in Albury, New South Wales. On leaving school, he was employed at Dalgety’s, Albury as an auctioneer. In 1924 John was promoted to Manager of the Wodonga Branch of Dalgety’s.
On 15/03/1900 he married Beatrice Neal (born 7/12/1887 and died 7/2/1953) from Collingwood, Victoria. They had 4 daughters – Francis (Nancy), Heather, Jessie and Mary.
In 1920, the family moved From Albury to Wodonga, purchasing their family home “Locherbie” at 169 High Street, Wodonga. "Locherbie" still stands in Wodonga in 2022. The collection contains items used by the Turner family during their life in Wodonga.

The designation "Nippon porcelain" refers to porcelain made in Japan for export to the west, and stamped with the word Nippon on their bases. This practice began in 1891 in response to the U.S. McKinley Tariff Act, which forbade the import of items that weren't "plainly marked, stamped, branded, or labelled in legible English words." Unfortunately, many reproduction or fake pieces were also produced. In 1921 "Nippon" was no longer accepted by U.S. Customs Agents as the correct name of origin so from then on, imported Japanese porcelain was supposed to be marked "Japan". This information helps us to establish provenance of this item as after 1921.

Significance

This item comes from a collection used by a prominent citizen of Wodonga. It is also an excellent example of Japanese porcelain of the early 20th century.

Physical description

A small teacup and saucer with a design of a couple in a garden. The design is repeated on the saucer. There is a circular pattern in red and gold around top of the cup and the rim of the saucer. Gilt decorations are included on the handle and around the inside of the cup.

Inscriptions & markings

Under the saucer: Maker's mark inside a triangular shape and below a crown: "FINE CHINA/ Royal Nippon/ MADE IN JAPAN"

Subjects

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