412-204-7493
This auction we are able to take a trip down the hallowed halls of an Ivy League School thanks to Wedgwood and entrepreneurial fundraisers in 1930 who wanted to be true to their school. Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey. The proceeds of the original sales of these plates were used to publish The Princeton War Record.
Our featured item for this blog are the Plates of Princeton. We have eight of the original set of twelve plates. Each has a different scene of the campus. Each one is beautiful in Blue and White Stafforshire with an identical band of decorative flowers and leaves around each rim. Each is stamped and marked Wedgwood. The most popular of the set and most costly today seems to be The University Chapel see item 24.
Wedgwood issued its first set of College Plates in 1927, 12 views of Harvard University in blue. For their plates, the Men at Harvard chose a Fruit and Flower border that had been used on Harvard dining hall china c.1840.
The following year, a set of twelve plates was issued for Saint Paul's Preparatory School in Concord, New Hampshire, many of whose graduates go on to college at Harvard. A border featuring Oak leaves, acorns and squirrels was chosen to reflect the rural nature of this boys' school.
By 1930 these plates had proved so popular that most of the prestigious colleges were having them made by Wedgwood, each college choosing it’s own decorative rim design. I think my favorite is the Stony Brook Bridge see item 22.
Here is the original advertisement found in a Princeton
Commencement program from the 1930s.
What a wonderful gift for the Princeton Graduate or any lover of Blue and White Transferware. What is your favorite? Be sure to let us know.
Happy Bidding!
Liz
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