Antique Doulton Cups
A small group of stoneware and earthenware drinking cups attributed to Doulton, led by the two-handled loving cup, a vessel made to be passed round at feasts and celebrations.
Antique Doulton Cups
Five listings make up the whole record on Sellingantiques, one sold and four standing as stock, from three dealers. That is a category read from a handful of titles rather than a settled pattern, and a buyer might see one or two come to market in a year.
The two-handled loving cup is effectively the category: four of the five listings name one, including a pair dated 1900. The form is a communal drinking vessel, passed from hand to hand, made in Britain in pottery and stoneware as well as in metal. Salt-glazed and slip-decorated stoneware cups of this kind were produced in quantity through the nineteenth century.
Two branches sit either side of that. Victorian and turn-of-century loving cups carry clean years, 1880 and 1900. Then come royal commemoratives: a Silver Jubilee cup for King George V and Queen Mary issued 1935, and a 1937 Coronation cup for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the latter described as a limited edition.
Apart from those, a large silver-rimmed harvest cup of the nineteenth century appears once, the only piece with a metal mount. Three titles use the Royal Doulton form of the name and one simply Doulton. Dating is loose: the dated field runs only 1880 to 1900, with a third listing entered as 19th Century, and the two commemoratives left undated despite the years in their titles.
Where Value Sits
Number counts. The highest-priced listing in this small group is a pair of loving cups rather than a single, and it is the only multiple in the archive. Two matching cups sold together carry further than one, because the set is harder to assemble after the fact.
A precious-metal mount lifts a piece as well. The harvest cup is the only one here fitted with a silver rim, and it is also the only title to lead with scale, described as large. Size and mounting tend to travel together on stoneware drinking vessels of this sort.
For the twentieth-century pieces, the pull is what they mark. A named royal occasion gives a cup a fixed date and an audience, and a stated limited issue narrows it further, as with the 1937 coronation cup. The undated Victorian and turn-of-century cups are judged instead on form, decoration and whether they came as one or two.
Antique Doulton Cups Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for doulton cups, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
Doulton cups have been listed on Sellingantiques since 2014, and three dealers have put one up in that time.
The Antique Doulton Cups Glossary
- Loving cup
- A two-handled cup meant to be passed from hand to hand. The form named in four of the five listings in this category.
- Harvest cup
- A large drinking vessel associated with harvest celebrations. It appears once in the archive, silver rimmed.
- Silver rimmed
- A silver mount fitted to the lip of a pottery or stoneware cup, stated in one title here.
- Limited edition
- An issue made in a stated quantity. Used in the title of the 1937 coronation cup and nowhere else in the group.
- Silver Jubilee
- The twenty-fifth year of a reign. The 1935 cup marks that of King George V and Queen Mary.
- Royal Doulton
- The form of the name used in three of the five titles, with Doulton alone in one.
Antique Doulton Cups: Frequently Asked Questions
What is a loving cup?
A cup with two handles, made to be passed round at a feast or celebration rather than used by one drinker. It was made in Britain in pottery and stoneware as well as in metal.
On Sellingantiques it is the form that defines this category, named in four of the five listings, one of those being a pair.
Are Doulton commemorative cups part of this group?
Two of the five listings are royal commemoratives. One marks the 1935 Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary, the other the 1937 Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Both take the loving cup form. Only the coronation cup is described as a limited edition.
How old are these cups?
The dealer dating is thin. Only two listings carry a clean year, 1880 and 1900, and a third is entered simply as 19th Century.
The two commemoratives are recorded as undated even though their titles state 1935 and 1937, so the dated field understates how far into the twentieth century the group reaches.
What does silver rimmed mean on a stoneware cup?
A silver mount fitted round the lip of the cup. It appears once in this category, on a large nineteenth-century harvest cup.
That is the only piece in the archive with a metal mount of any kind.
Why do some listings say Royal Doulton and others Doulton?
Both forms of the name turn up in the titles. Three of the five use Royal Doulton and one uses Doulton alone.
Dealers here attribute the cups to Doulton or Royal Doulton in the title rather than through a named designer or decorator.
Do many come up for sale?
Not often. Three dealers have listed in this category, and the whole record runs to five listings, one sold and four current.
At that rate a buyer might see one or two come to market in a year, so opportunities are occasional.