How often do Derby plates come up for sale?

Sixteen dealers have listed them on Sellingantiques, and about seven arrive in a year. The category comes in a slow trickle rather than in runs. Single plates dominate. Pairs appear in 8 of 64 titles, and plural lots in 10, so a set or a service is the exception.

What dates do these plates cover?

The dealers' own dating field runs from 1800 to 1940, with Regency and Georgian leading. Only 18 of 64 listings carry a clean year, and nine are labelled no more precisely than 19th Century. Title text is often sharper than the field, giving c.1760, c.1770, c.1805, c.1820, 1850-70, 1882, 1901, 1927 and 1941. The earliest samples are the c.1760 spectacle plates; the latest is a hand-painted plate dated 1941.

Is Bloor Derby different from Royal Crown Derby?

They are different periods of the same Derby porcelain tradition, and in this category they split the field almost evenly. Bloor is named on 13 titles, almost all dated c.1820 to c.1825. Royal Crown Derby is named on 19, chiefly on pieces from 1880 onward, with twentieth-century entries clustering thinly and evenly through the 1900s, 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.

Why are the plants named in the titles?

Botanical painting is named on 11 titles, and dealers usually give the species because the naming was part of the original decoration and part of the appeal. Specimens recorded in the samples include Siberian Rhododendron, Cryptostegia, St John's Wort, Toothed Leaved Hibbertia, Rose and Sweet William. Several were sold as pairs, and some carry armorials as well.

Do Derby plates carry pattern numbers?

Rarely in this archive. Pattern numbers are quoted only twice across all 64 listings, 431 and 1384. Identification usually runs through the painter or the subject instead, which is why titles lead on names and specimens rather than on factory references.

What unusual forms turn up under this heading?

A few listings are service companions rather than plates: a serving dish, a teapot stand, tazzas and comports, an ecuelle with cover and stand, and a trio. One-offs include a shell-shaped plate in Kakiemon style and a sample plate dated 1850-70. Two listings record plates made for named clients, including a pair of cabinet plates made for John Ford, Edinburgh in 1901.